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A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE 



SUPERNATURAL 



BY 






WALTER HUBBELL 



CHICAGO. 



BRENTANOS', 

NEW YORK. 

1888. 



? MAR32'888 ' 



PARIS. 






Copyright, 

1888, 

By WALTER HUBBELL. 

^4// rights restrved. 



PRESS OF HUNTER ft BEACH, 
31 W. I3THST.,N. Y. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Affidavit 4 

Author's Preface 5 

Home of Daniel Teed 11 

The Great Amherst Mystery 30 

Followed by the Ghost 68 

My Strange Experience 82 

Esther Cox 139 

Retrospective , 149 



AFFIDAVIT. 

State of New York, ) 
City and County of New York, f s,s ' 

WALTER HUBBELL, being duly sworn, deposes and 
says : that he is the sole author of this book " The Great 
Amherst Mystery, a True Narrative of the Supernatural," 
and that his experience as described, was an actual experience, 
and that deponent actually saw and heard the phenomena as 

stated. 

WALTER HUBBELL. 
Sworn to before me this 

13th day of February, 1888. 

A. Ackerman, 

Notary Public No. 5, 
[Seal] New York County. 



[Seal] 

New York, March 2d, 1888. 

This is to certify that Walter Hubbell is hereby authorized 
to print my Notary Seal on the affidavit he has sworn to before 
me for the purpose of attaching same to his book, entitled 
"The Great Amherst Mystery, a True Narrative of the Super- 
natural.' 

A. Ackerman, 

Notary Public No. 5, 

New York County, 
Office, 10 East 14th Street, New York City. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The marvellous manifestations of an in- 
visible unknown power within the atmos- 
phere, possessing human intelligence, and 
performing many of the physical actions 
of mankind, has never been fully investi- 
gated in an impartial manner by those sci- 
entific men who reason by induction, and 
who have devoted their lives and schol- 
arly attainments to the development and 
explanation of visible powers, such as 
steam, electricity and the wind, all of 
which lack intelligence, and only produce 
effects that are specific in action when 
properly guided by mankind. The time 
has come when education is so universal, 
that, in our grand republic, the United 
States of America, nearly every man and 



6 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

woman is capable of reading and under- 
standing the topics of the times. This 
being the fortunate state of our nation, 
we ought to demand of those who have 
devoted themselves to scientific research 
in other fields of knowledge some logical 
explanation of the hidden powers of the 
air — the supernatural — that has, in all 
lands and among all peoples, ever been 
the great unsolved problem of human life, 
and not leave to unprincipled scoundrels 
a field that is so full of intense interest to 
the human family. The jugglers and 
charlatans who claim to hold intercourse 
with an unseen world where, they inform 
the skeptic and unfortunate dupe alike, 
that ''the dead loved ones who have 
passed on before still live beyond the 
grave, and are waiting in the summer-land 
until we shall have joined them in the 
sweet by-and-bye," should be informed 
that science, in its true sense, has at last 
come to the rescue of the thousands who 
are being humbugged and made insane. 
It has been my fate to have lived in a 



author's preface. 



house where the invisible power within 
the atmosphere manifested its presence 
day after day, for weeks, in a manner 
eminently calculated to strike dismay and 
terror to the heart of the bravest man. 
Men and women from all parts of the 
country investigated, in an imperfect 
manner, this phenomenon in vain. And 
now I call upon science, as understood 
and taught by those learned men of the 
scientific institutions of our country, to 
come forward and either prove my state- 
ments unworthy of belief, or that my expe- 
rience had an existence outside of my 
imagination, and will bear further inves- 
tigation. The theory has been advanced 
that electricity was the agent at work 
within the air when the wonders occurred. 
Some persons have claimed that " mes- 
merism did it all "; and still another class 
of thinkers have claimed for Satan the 
marvels that hundreds of sane persons 
saw and heard in the little cottage where, 
for weeks, I had the most extraordinary 
experience of my life, -ome of the won- 



8 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

ders of the phenomena I witnessed are so 
far beyond the realm of imagination, that 
I almost hesitate to give them to the 
world as facts, and yet that they were 
facts, of the most positive kind, can be 
proven by a complete investigation of 
similar cases, whenever they occur. And 
by then comparing the facts with the 
wonders I have described in this volume. 
Murder, in forms too monstrous for be- 
lief, lurked within the very atmosphere ; 
the kindling of mysterious fires struck 
terror to the hearts of all ; the powerful 
shaking of the house and breaking of its 
walls ; the fearful poundings and other 
weird noises, as if made by invisible 
sledge-hammers, upon the roof, walls, and 
floor ; the strange actions of the house- 
hold furniture, which moved about from 
place to place in the broad light of day, 
and the terrible legend upon the wall, 
were all unquestionably the result of 
the action of a mysterious power, 
and call for investigation at the hands 
of men who will place their verdict on 



AUTHORS PREFACE. O, 

record as a truth to be believed in future 
acres. 

Having been a professional actor since 
my early youth, I am perfectly familiar 
with all those mechanical devices which 
we use upon the stage, for the presenta- 
tion of illusive effects so often the wonder 
and admiration of the public. Possessing 
this knowledge, gained by years of experi- 
ence, and being- familiar with the methods 
and paraphernalia used by the magicians 
in their exhibitions of legerdemain, I am, 
beyond doubt, competent to judge wheth- 
er there was or was not deception of such 
a kind in the house where I beheld such 
wonders. Truth, it has been said, is often 
stranger than fiction. What I have writ- 
ten is the truth, and not fiction, and 
it is very strange. I have not per- 
mitted my imagination to so embellish 
the account as to distort it, nor in any 
way endeavored to make it attractive 
at the expense of veracity. My whole 
account is to be read simply as a nar- 
rative of facts taken from my journal 



JO THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

kept while I lived in the house, and in 
which I made daily and, at many times, 
instant record of the manifestations of an 
invisible, intelligent power within the at- 
mosphere while witnessing the phenom- 
ena it produced, and from the whole story 
of the mysterious affair, as told to me by 
the family living in the house when I went 
there to board ; which story, in all its 
details, was fully corroborated by the in- 
habitants of Amherst and strangers from 
distant towns and cities, whom I saw and 
talked with, whose statements, in turn, 
were all corroborated by the facts of the 
case as I know them to have existed from 
personal experience. Nothing about the 
affair is supposititious, nor has anything 
in this work been coined for the occasion 
by any person and then been written up 
by me afterwards. And I wish it dis- 
tinctly understood that I am not suscepti- 
ble to the influences of mesmerism, hy- 
pnotism, or psychology in any of its 
forms ; nor am I a Pythagorean. 

W. H. 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. II 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 



A cosy cottage free from every strife, 

Was home indeed with honest Daniel's wife. 

Christmas was over, I had just closed 
an engagement and returned to New 
York to obtain another. My agent, Mr. 
Morris Simmonds, suggested one in Hali- 
fax, Nova Scotia, for the winter. I gave 
the matter some consideration, finally ac- 
cepted, and became a member of the dra- 
matic company engaged to play at the 
Academy of Music, in Halifax, for an in- 
definite period. In due time the com- 
pany left New York, and after a very 
rough passage in the steamship Alhambra, 
Captain Mcllhenny, we arrived in Hali- 
fax, January ioth, 1879. Among the 
members of the company were Wm. F. 
Burroughs, Walter Lennox, sr., Fenwick 
Armstrong, Lewis Baker, Walter Lennox, 



12 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

jr., Miss Phosa McAllister, Miss Ida Van 
Courtland, Mrs. E. M. Post, Miss Anita 
Harris, Miss Ella Mayer, Miss Josie 
Wilmere, all well known members of the 
dramatic profession ; also, that genial gen- 
tleman, Mr. E. B. Holmes, our stage 
manager, since deceased. We played in 
Halifax, from January 14th until March 
31st, and during that short period pro- 
duced thirty-seven different plays. Just 
before closing our season in Halifax I 
obtained three young Newfoundland 
dogs, and sent them home to the United 
States, and one of them is still in the 
possession of some relatives in New York. 
After closing our season in Halifax, where 
I experienced the coldest winter within 
my remembrance, we played in Amherst, 
Nova Scotia, March 25th and 26th, and 
in Moncton, New Brunswick, on the 
27th and 28th of the same month, return- 
ing afterwards to Halifax, where we gave 
one performance for the benefit of our 
manager. Closing our season in Halifax, 
we went to St. John's, the well known port 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 1 3 

of the seal hunters, on the Island of New- 
foundland, arriving there April 5th. 
After opening our season in Total Ab- 
stinence Hall, on April 15th, we played 
until the first week in June, and then re- 
turned to Halifax. While in St. John's, 
we produced seven new plays, and repeat- 
ed nearly all of those we had played in 
Halifax. Both engagements were under 
the management of Mr. William Nannery, 
at present, I believe, living in San Fran- 
cisco, California. His brother, Mr. Patrick 
Nannery, was a member of our company 
during both engagements. While playing 
in Halifax, I saw quite frequently in the 
daily papers accounts of a haunted house 
in Amherst, Nova Scotia. It was called 
the great Amherst Mystery, and was sup- 
posed to be inhabited by a devil. My 
attention had previously been attracted 
toward the supernatural in the following 
manner. In 1872, a friend lost her mother 
to whom she had been passionately attach- 
ed; the shock of her death was very severe, 
and my friend, for many months, was quite 



14 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

prostrated from grief. Finally she deter- 
mined that she would try and communi- 
cate with her dead mother through an 
alleged "spiritual medium." The result 
was that she nearly lost her reason. She 
went to several of the imposters, and be- 
lieved all the wonders they showed her. 
I saw if she continued to frequent these 
so-called " spiritual seances," and subject 
her nervous system to the strain which 
their pretended revelations produced, she 
would subsequently become insane, and 
so I commenced the investigation of 
" Spiritualism," to prove to her that it 
was lacking in those fundamental princi- 
ples which place each truth on a scientific 
basis. After a long series of experiments 
and much investigation, I succeeded in 
restoring her mind to its normal tone by 
convincing her that " modern spiritualism" 
was in the hands of jugglers and charla- 
tans, who make an excellent living out of 
their too credulous dupes, many of whom 
notwithstanding, are persons of great 
culture and intellectual ability of the 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 1 5 

highest order. Having been so SUCCeSS- 
full in exposing a number of so-called 
"mediums," and my engagement with 
Mr. Nannery being ended, 1 went to Am- 
herst to expose the great mystery and 
prove to the Canadians, through the press, 
that the devil said to be inhabiting the so- 
called "haunted house" had in reality no 
existence. I felt sure that in a few days, 
I would be able to explain the matter in- 
telligently and end the mystery. I knew 
that it was impossible for any one to 
deceive me after my previous experience 
in rescuing my friend from her impending 
fate as an inmate of an insane asylum, 
toward which, I began to think, at least 
half the population of Amherst was tend- 
ing, so distorted were the various accounts 
I read in the papers and heard from per- 
sons who had been there. 

Amherst, Nova Scotia, is a beautiful 
village situated on the famous Bay of 
Fundy, and is reached either from Hali- 
fax, Nova Scotia, or St. John, New Bruns- 
wick, by the remarkably well managed 



1 6 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Inter-Colonial Railway, being about 140 
miles from each city. It has a popula- 
tion of about three thousand five hundred 
souls, and contains four churches, an Acad- 
emy, a Music Hall, containing scenery, 
where dramatic and operatic entertain- 
ments are frequently given. It also has a 
large iron foundry, a large shoe factory, 
and probably more stores of various kinds 
than any village of its size in the Prov- 
ince. The private residences of the more 
wealthy inhabitants are picturesque in 
appearance, being surrounded by beauti- 
fully laid-out lawns, studded with orna- 
mental shade trees of various kinds, and 
in summer with numerous beds of flowers 
of choice and sometimes very rare vari- 
eties. The residences of Parson Town- 
send, Mr. Robb, Dr. Nathan Tupper, Dr. 
Carritte, and Mr. G. G. Bird, proprietor 
of the Amherst book store ; also, that of 
Mr. Amos Purdy, the village postmaster, 
were sure to attract a visitor's attention, 
and command his admiration during my 
residence in the village ; and although 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. I J 

sometime has elapsed since I was last 
there, I doubt not but that they look just 
as they did then, for villages like Am- 
herst do not grow very fast in any part 
of Canada ; there is not the energy and 
push to be met with there that we have 
in the United States. In this little village 
there was on Princess street, near Church, 
a neat two-story cottage painted yellow; 
it had in front a small yard extending to 
the stable in the rear. The tidy appear- 
ance of the cottage and its pleasant situa- 
tion were sure to attract a stranger's 
attention and always excited the admira- 
tion of the neighbors. Upon entering 
the house everything was found to be so 
tastefully arranged, was so scrupulously 
clean and comfortable, that a visitor felt 
at home immediately, being confident that 
everything was under the personal direc- 
tion of a thrifty housewife. The first 
floor of the cottage consisted of four 
rooms. A parlor, lighted by a large bay 
window filled with beautiful geraniums of 
every imaginable color ancj variety, was 



15 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the first room to attract attention, then 
the dining-room, with its old-fashioned 
clock, its numerous home-made rugs, easy 
chairs, and commodious table, made a 
visitor feel like dining, especially if the 
hour was near twelve, for, at about that 
time of day, savory odors were sure to 
issue from the adjoining kitchen. The 
kitchen was all that a room of that kind 
in a village cottage should be ; was 
not very large, and contained an ordinary 
wood-stove, a large pine table, and a 
small washstand ; had a door opening into 
the side yard near the stable, and another 
into the wood-shed, besides the one con- 
necting it with the dining-room, making 
three doors in all, and one window from 
which you could look into a narrow side 
yard. The fourth room on this floor was 
very small and was used as a sewing- 
room ; it adjoined the dining-room and 
parlor and had a door opening into each. 
Besides these four rooms, there was a 
large pantry having a small window 
about four feet from the floor, the door 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 19 

of this pantry opening into the dining- 
room. Such was the arrangement of the 
rooms of the first floor. The doors of 
the dining-room and parlor opened into 
a hallway leading from the front door. 
Upon entering the front door, at your 
right, you saw the stairway in the hall 
leading to the floor above, and after 
ascending this stairway and turning to 
your left you found yourself in the sec- 
ond story of the cottage, which consisted 
of an entry running at right angles with 
the hallway of the floor below. In about 
the center of this entry was a trap-door, 
without a ladder, to the loft above, and 
opening into the entry, where the trap-door 
was, were tour small bedrooms, each one 
of which had one small window and one 
door, there being no door between the 
rooms. Two of these bedrooms faced 
Princess street, and the other two toward 
the back of the yard overlooking the 
stable. Like the rest of the house, all 
these bedrooms were conspicuous for 
their neat, cosey appearance, being all 



20 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

papered (except the one at the head of 
the stairs), and all painted, and furnished 
with ordinary cottage furniture. Every- 
thing about this little house would have 
impressed the most casual observer with 
the fact that its inmates were evidently 
happy and contented, if not rich. Such 
was the humble home of honest Daniel 
Teed, a shoemaker, whom everybody 
knew and respected. He never owed a 
dollar to any one if he could pay it, and 
never allowed his family to want for any 
comfort that could be provided with his 
hard-earned salary, as foreman of the 
Amherst Shoe Factory. 

Daniel's family consisted of his wife, 
Olive, as good a woman as ever lived, 
Willie, aged five years, and George, aged 
seventeen months. I think little Mrs. 
Teed worked harder than any woman I 
ever knew. Willie was a strong, healthy- 
looking lad, with a ruddy complexion, 
blue eyes and curly, brown hair. His 
principal amusements were throwing 
§tones at the chickens in the yard an4 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 21 

street, and playing with his little brother. 
Little golden-haired George was certainly 
the finest boy of his age in the village, 
and his merry laugh, winning ways and 
smart actions to attract attention, made 
him a favorite with all who visited the 
cottage. Besides his wife and two sons, 
Daniel had, under his roof and protection, 
his wife's two sisters, Jennie and Esther 
Cox, who boarded with him. Jane, or 
Jennie as she was often called, was a 
most self-possessed young woman, of 
about twenty-two and quite a beauty. 
Her hair was light brown, and reached 
below her waist when allowed to fall at 
full length. At other times she wore it in 
the Grecian style ; her eyes were of that 
rarely seen grayish blue, and her clear 
complexion and handsome teeth added 
greatly to her fine personal appearance. 
To be candid, Jennie Cox was a village 
belle, and always had a host of admirers, 
not of the opposite sex alone, but among 
the ladies. She was a member and regu- 
lar attendant of Parson Townsend's Epis- 



22 TH£ GRElAT AMJlERST MYSTERY. 

copal Church, of which the Reverend 
Townsend had been pastor for about 
forty-five years. Jennie's sister, Esther, 
was low in stature, and rather inclined to 
be stout. Her hair was curly, of a dark- 
brown color, and worn short, reaching 
only to her shoulders ; her eyes were 
large and gray, with a bluish tinge, and a 
very earnest expression, which seemed to 
say : "Why do you look at me, I can- 
not help being unlike other people?" 
Her eyebrows and lashes were dark, the 
lashes being long and eyebrows very dis- 
tinct. Her face was what would be called 
round, with well-shaped features. And her 
teeth were remarkably handsome. She 
had a pale complexion, and small hands 
and feet that were well shaped. Esther 
was very fond of housework and proved 
a help to her sister, Mrs. Teed. In other 
respects, Esther Cox had an indescribable 
appearance of rugged honesty about her, 
that certainly made that simple-hearted 
village maiden very attractive. She had 
numbers of friends of her own age, which 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 23 

was about nineteen years, and was always 
in demand among the little children of 
the neighborhood, who were always ready 
to have a romp and a game of tag with 
their dear friend Esther. 

There were two other boarders in the 
cottage, John Teed, Daniel's brother, and 
William Cox, the brother of Mrs. Teed 
and her sisters. William Cox was a shoe- 
maker, and worked in the same factory as 
his brother-in-law. John Teed, like his 
brother, was an honest, hard-working man, 
and had been brought up a farmer, an 
occupation he followed when not board- 
ing with Daniel, in Amherst. 

Daniel Teed was, at this time, about 
thirty-five years of age, five feet eight 
in his stockings. Had light brown hair, 
rather thin on top of his well-shaped head, 
blue eyes, well-defined features, and what 
is called a Roman nose. His complexion 
was florid, and he wore a heavy moustache 
and bushy side-whiskers. Rheumatism, 
of several years standing, had given him 
a slight halt in his left leg. He led an 



'i\ THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

exemplary Christian life, had a pew in the 
Wesleyan Methodist Church, of which 
the Rev. R. A. Temple was pastor, and 
belonged to a temperance society. Mrs. 
Olive Teed had dark hair, gray eyes, and 
a pale complexion, and attended church 
with her husband. Being older than her 
sisters she was looked up to by them for 
advice and consolation when they were 
in trouble. Life in the household of Dan- 
iel Teed was the same monotonous exist- 
ence day after day. They always dined 
at twelve o'clock. Shortly before that 
hour, Esther could be generally seen 
seated on the parlor floor playing with 
little George. Willie was frequently to 
be found in the yard, near the stable, in 
the summer. Once, I remember, he was 
found there tormenting a poor hen, to 
whose lee Mrs. Teed had tied a loe of 
wood to prevent her from setting in 
the cow's stall ; he, however, seemed to 
think she had been purposely tied so that 
he might have the pleasure of banging 
her over the head with a small club, which 



Home of Daniel teed. 25 

he was doing with great persistency, when 
his mother came out of the kitchen, boxed 
his ears and sent him bawling into the 
house, much to the relief of the hen, who 
had just fallen over from exhaustion and 
fright. Finally, dinner would be ready, 
and honest Daniel would come in hungry. 
Jennie could be seen coming down the 
street from her work ; she held a posi- 
tion in Mr. James P. Dunlap's establish- 
ment, and went to work every morning 
at seven o'clock. All being there they 
would sit down to a substantial meal of 
beefsteak and onions, plenty of hot, 
mashed potatoes, boiled cabbage, home- 
made bread, and delicious butter made 
from the rich cream of Daniel's red cow. 
This was the happy, innocent existence 
led by Daniel Teed and his family. One 
day was so like another that the weeks 
slipped away without perceptible differ- 
ence, and it was while they were living 
thus that there occurred one of the most 
frightful calamities that can befall any 
household, Jew or gentile, rich or poor. 



26 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

To have something moving about with- 
in the atmosphere, as it did in this house, 
is terrible to contemplate. What was it ? 
Where did it come from and for what 
purpose ? were questions that not only 
the inhabitants of Amherst could not an- 
swer, but have been asked in vain of the 
scientific world. Of course there were 
many theories advanced, but what are 
theories? Often only imaginary circum- 
stances thought out by men in an endeavor 
to explain mysteries when tangible facts 
are so elusive as to be useless. One 
very remarkable fact about this house was 
that the power within the atmosphere 
increased in strength. In all other 
haunted houses, of which I have heard, 
the mystery was as powerful at the first 
as when it had nearly ceased, or been ex- 
plained away as the work of designing 
persons who had a specific object in view, 
such as an endeavor to so injure the repu- 
tation of the house, in the minds of timid 
persons, that its owner would rent it for 
half the usual rent to get it off his hands, 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 2? 

or a desire to frighten some very sensi- 
tive person as a joke. There were no 
such suspicious circumstances, however, 
surrounding the house of Daniel Teed. 
He was, in every sense of the word, a 
good man ; paid his rent promptly, and 
his household was in every way highly 
respectable, and consequently all its mem- 
bers were worthy of the esteem in which 
they were held by all classes who knew 
them. Then, it must be remembered, the 
house stood alone on the lot, being what 
is known as a detached cottage. On the 
front was a yard opening on Princess 
street, on the right side as you entered 
the front gate was an open lot about ioo 
feet deep to the next house ; on the left 
was a cottage fifteen or twenty feet away, 
and on the back, the stable. I examined 
the cellar, and there was no subterranean 
passage leading anywhere. The roof 
was an ordinary peaked one, and so built 
that both sides could be seen from the 
front street. 

The family of Daniel Teed rarely 



28 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

required the services of a physician, but 
when any member of the household 
was ill, Dr. Carritte was always called. 
Dr. Carritte is a gentleman of cul- 
ture and refinement, and of very high 
standing in the profession of which he is 
such a distinguished member and orna- 
ment. It is probable that he, more than 
any man, except myself, can speak com- 
prehensivly of the great Amherst Mystery. 
He knew of and heard this phenomenon 
from the commencement of its diabolical 
demonstration, and tried all means known 
to the science of medicine to frustrate 
its demoniacal designs, and banish it 
from the house, in vain. His residence in 
Amherst was always a delightful house to 
visit, and he has many warm friends in 
the dramatic profession, in whose mem- 
bers he has for many years taken a per- 
sonal interest and had an almost fatherly 
regard. He has, in more than one in- 
stance, corroborated my most extraor- 
dinary statements in regard to the doings 
of the unknown power, and I know will 



HOME OF DANIEL TEED. 29 

be only too happy to do so in the future. 
For I am fully aware that there are 
thousands of persons who will not believe 
a word I have written, and to those per- 
sons I will now say, that if they will con- 
sult the files of the Amherst Gazette, 
from August 28, 1878, to August 1, 1879; 
also the Daily News, of St. John, N. B., 
of September 8, 1879, f° r which paper I 
wrote a short account of the phenomena ; 
and the New York Commercial Adver- 
tiser, of January 17, 1888, or call upon 
any of the persons whose names appear 
in this narrative, they will find that all 
my statements are what I claim for them 
— simply, The Truth, which is legally 
sworn to in my affidavit. 



]0 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 
THE 

GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 



Explain all mysteries howe'er we can, 
The greatest left upon the earth is man. 

Supper was just over. Mr. and Mrs. 
Teed were sitting in the parlor with Jen- 
nie, who presently went up stairs to the 
bedroom at the head of the stairs, where 
Esther was already in bed, having retired 
at seven o'clock. She asked Esther a ques- 
tion, and not receiving a reply, told her 
that she was going to see Miss Porter, 
and would soon return, remarking that 
the damp, foggy night made her feel 
sleepy too. As the night was a very dis- 
agreeable one, all retired to their rooms 
about half-past eight, and at about fifteen 
minutes to nine Jennie, having returned 
from her visit, also retired to the room 
where Esther had been in bed for some 
time, Getting into bed with her sister 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 3 1 

she noticed that she had forgotten to 
put out the lamp, which she immediately 
extinguished, and got into bed again, re- 
marking that the room was very dark, 
as she bumped her head against the bed- 
post. She was nearly asleep, when Es- 
ther asked her if it was not the fourth of 
September, to which she replied in the 
affirmative, remarking that she wanted to 
go to sleep. The room in which the girls 
were in bed together was in the front of 
the house, in the second story, at the 
head of the stairs, and next to the room 
occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Teed and their 
children, and had one window directly 
over the front door. They had lain per- 
fectly quiet for about ten minutes, when 
Esther jumped out of bed with a scream, 
exclaiming that there was a mouse under 
the bed-clothes. Her scream startled her 
sister, who was almost asleep, and she 
also got out of bed and at once lighted 
the lamp. They then both searched the 
bed, but could not find the mouse. Sup- 
posing it to be inside the mattress, Jennie 



32 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

remarked that they were both fools to be 
afraid of a little harmless mouse, 

"For, see," said she, "it is inside the 
mattress ; look how the straw inside is 
being moved about by it. The mouse 
has gotten inside somehow and cannot 
get out because it is lost. Let us go back 
to bed, Esther ; it cannot harm us now." 

So they put out the light and got into 
bed again. After listening for a few 
minutes without hearing the straw move 
in the mattress the girls fell asleep. 

On the following night the girls heard 
something moving under their bed, and 
Esther exclaimed, 

" There is that mouse again, let us get 
up and kill it. I am not going to be 
worried by a mouse every night." 

They arose, and one of them lighted 
the lamp. On hearing a rustling in a 
green pasteboard box filled with patch- 
work, which was under the bed, they 
placed the box in the middle of the room, 
and were amazed to see it spring up into 
the air about a foot, and then fell t;o the 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 33 

floor and turn over on its side. The 
girls could not belieYe their own eyes, so 
Jennie again placed the box in the middle 
of the room, and both watched it intently, 
when the same thing was repeated. Both 
Jennie and Esther were now thoroughly 
frightened, and screamed as loudly as 
they could for Daniel, who quickly put 
on some clothing and came into their 
room to ascertain what was the matter. 
They described what had occurred, but 
he only laughed, and after pushing the 
box under the bed, remarked, that they 
must be crazy, or perhaps had been dream- 
ing ; and after grumbling because his rest 
had been disturbed, he went back to bed. 
The next morning the girls both declared 
that the box had really moved upward 
into the air, and had then fallen to the 
floor and rolled over on its side, where 
Daniel had found it on entering their 
room ; but as no one believed them, they 
concluded it was of no use to talk of the 
singular occurrence. After breakfast, 
Jennie went to Mr. Dunlap's to work (she 



34 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

was a tailoress), and the rest of the house- 
hold about their daily business, as usual, 
leaving Mrs. Teed, Esther and the boys 
alone in the house After dinner Mrs. 
Teed sat in the parlor sewing, while Es- 
ther went out to walk. The afternoon 
was delightfully cool, a pleasant breeze 
blowing from the bay. Walking is very 
pleasant when there is no dust, but Am- 
herst is such a dusty village, especially 
when the wind blows from the bay and 
so scatters the dust of the unpaved 
streets that it is impossible to walk on 
any of them with comfort, that Esther 
finding this to be the case retraced her 
steps homeward, stopping at the Post- 
office and at Bird's book store, where 
she bought a bottle of ink from Miss 
Blanche and then returned home. After 
supper Esther took her accustomed seat 
on the door-step, remaining there until 
the moon had risen. It was a beautiful 
moonlight night, almost as bright as day ; 
and while seated there looking at the 
moon, she remarked to Jennie, that she 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 35 

would surely have good luck during the 
month because she had seen the new 
moon over her shoulder. At half-past 
eight o'clock in the evening Esther com- 
plained of feeling feverish, and was ad- 
vised by Mrs. Teed and Jennie to go to 
bed, which she did. At about ten o'clock, 
Jennie also retired. After she had been 
in bed with Esther some fifteen minutes, 
the latter jumped with a sudden bound 
into the center of the room, taking all 
the bed-clothes with her, exclaiming, 

" My God ! what is the matter with me ? 
I'm dying !" 

Jennie at once got out of bed, thinking 
her sister had an attack of nightmare ; but, 
when she had lighted the lamp, was much 
alarmed at Esther's appearance, as she 
stood in the center of the room with her 
short hair almost standing on end, her face 
blood-red and her eyes looking as if they 
would start from their sockets, while her 
hands- were grasping the back of a chair 
so tightly that her finger-nails sank into 
the soft wood. And, truly, she was an 



2,6 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

object to be looked on with astonishment, 
as she stood there in her white night- 
gown, trembling with fear. Jennie called 
as loudly as she could for assistance ; for 
she, too, was thoroughly frightened by this 
time, and did not know what to do. Mrs. 
Teed was the first to enter the room, 
having first thrown a shawl around her 
shoulders, for it was a very chilly night ; 
Daniel put on his coat and trousers in a 
hurry, as did also William Cox and John 
Teed, and the three men entered the 
room at almost the same instant. 

" Why, what in thunder ails you, 
Esther ?" asked Daniel ; while William 
Cox and John Teed exclaimed in the 
same breath — 

" She's mad !" 

Mrs. Teed was speechless with amaze- 
ment ; and they all stood looking at the 
girl, not knowing what to do to relieve 
her terrible agony. Suddenly she became 
pale, and seemed to be growing very 
weak, and in a short time became so weak 
that she had to be assisted to the bed. 






THE GREAT AMHERST MVSTERY. $7 

After sitting on the edge of the bed for a 
moment, and gazing about the room with 
a vacant stare, she started to her feet with 
a wild yell and said that she felt as if she 
was about to burst into pieces. 

" Great Heavens !" exclaimed Mrs. 
Teed, " what shall we do with her ? She is 
crazy !" 

Jennie, who generally retained her 
presence of mind, said in a soothing tone, 

" Come, Esther, get into bed again." 

As she could not do so without assist- 
ance, her sisters helped her in, when she 
gasped in a choking voice, " I am swelling 
up and shall certainlv burst, I know I 
shall." 

Daniel looked at her, and remarked in 
a startled tone, " Why, the girl is swell- 
ing ! Olive, just look at her ; even her 
hands are swollen. Lay your hand on 
her ; she is as hot as fire." 

I have asked a number of physicians 
if they had ever met with similar condi- 
tions in a patient, and all replied that 
they had not, and added, never should. 



38 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Such, however, was the condition of this 
girl at the time. While the family stood 
looking at her wondering what to do to 
relieve her, for her entire body had now 
swollen and she was screaming with pain 
and grinding her teeth as if in an epi- 
leptic fit, a loud report, like one peal of 
thunder without that terrible after rumb- 
ling, was heard in the room. They all, 
except Esther, who was in bed, started 
instantly to their ieet and stood motion- 
less, literally paralyzed with surprise. 

Mrs. Teed was the first to speak, ex- 
claiming, " My God ! the house has been 
struck by a thunderbolt, and I know that 
my boys have been killed," rushed from 
the room followed by her husband, Wil- 
liam Cox and John Teed ; Jennie remain- 
ing by Esther's bedside. 

On finding the children both sleeping 
soundly they returned to the room and 
stood looking at Esther in silence, wonder- 
ing what had produced the terrible sound. 
Goine to the window Mrs. Teed raised 
the curtain and saw the stars shining- 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 39 

brightly, and all were then satisfied it had 
not been thunder they had heard. Just 
as she let the curtain down again, three 
terrific reports were heard in the room, 
apparently coining from under the bed on 
which Esther lay. These reports were 
so loud that the whole room shook, and 
Esther, who a moment before had been 
so fearfully swollen and in such great 
pain, immediately assumed her natural 
appearance and sank into a state of calm 
repose As soon as they were sure that 
it was sleep, not death, that had taken 
possession of her, they all left the room, 
except Jennie, who went again to bed be- 
side her sister, but could not sleep for the 
balance of the night, through nervous 
excitement. The next day Esther re- 
mained in bed until about nine o'clock, 
when she arose, apparently herself again, 
and got her own breakfast. Her appe- 
tite on this occasion was not as good as 
usual All she could eat was a small 
piece of bread and butter and a large, 
green pickle, washed down with a cup of 



40 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

strong black tea. She, however, helped 
Mrs. Teed with the housework, as usual, 
and after dinner took a walk past the 
post office and around the block home 
again. 

At supper that evening the usual con- 
versation occurred about the unearthly 
sounds, but- as not one of them could 
offer an explanation they concluded it 
was too deep a matter for them to talk 
about, and all agreed to keep it secret 
and not inform any of their friends or 
neighbors what had transpired. They 
knew that no one would believe that such 
strange, unknown sounds had been heard 
under the bed, nor that Esther had been 
so singularly affected from unknown 
causes. About four nights after the loud 
reports had been heard, Esther had a 
similar attack. It came on at ten o'clock 
at night, just as she was about to get into 
bed. This time, however, she managed 
to get into the bed before the attack had 
swelled her to any great extent. 

Jennie Cox who had already retired, ad- 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 4 1 

vised her to remain perfectly quiet, consol- 
ing her with the hope that if she did so the 
attack would in all probability pass away, 
and she then be able to go to sleep without 
further inconvenience. Esther remained 
perfectly motionless as advised, but had 
only been so for about five minutes when, to 
the consternation of both, all the bed 
clothes, except the bottom sheet on which 
they lay, new off and settled down in a con- 
fused heap in a far corner of the room. 
They could see them passing through the 
air by the light of the kerosene lamp which 
was lighted and standing on the table, 
and both screamed as only thoroughly- 
scared girls can, and then Jennie fainted. 
And was it not enough to have frightened 
any woman and made her faint ? 

On hearing the screams, the entire family 
rushed into the room, after hurriedly 
putting on some garments. There lay all 
the bed clothes in the corner ; Esther 
fearfully swollen, but entirely conscious, 
and Jennie lying as if she were dead. 
Indeed she looked like a corpse as the 



42 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

light of the lamp, which Daniel held in his 
hand, fell upon her pale face. 

Mrs. Teed was the first to recover her 
senses and, seeing that the forms of her 
two sisters were exposed, quickly took up 
the bed-clothes and placed them on the 
girls again. She had no sooner done so 
than they instantly flew off to the same 
corner of the room, and the pillow, from 
under Esther's head, came flying through 
the air and struck John Teed in the face. 
This was too much for John Teed's 
nerves, and he immediately left the room, 
after remarking, "he had had enough of 
it," and could not be induced to return to 
sit on the edges of the bed with the others 
who, in that way, managed to keep the 
bed-clothes in place over the girls. Jennie 
had by this time recovered from her 
fainting spell, and William Cox went 
down to the kitchen for a bucket of water 
to bathe Esther's head which was aching, 
when, just as he had got to the door .of 
the room again with the bucket of water, 
a succession of reports were heard that 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 43 

seemed to come from the bed where the 
two girls lay. These reports were so loud 
that the whole room trembled from their 
vibrations ; and Esther, who a moment 
before had been swollen, assumed her 
natural appearance, and in a few minutes 
fell into an apparently healthful sleep. 
As all seemed right again the entire family 
retired, but could sleep no more that night. 
The next morning Jennie and Esther 
were both very weak, particularly Esther. 
She arose, however, when her sister did and 
lay down on the sofa in the parlor. At 
breakfast the members of the family all 
agreed that a doctor had better be sent 
for ; so in the afternoon Daniel left the 
factory early and went to see Dr. Carritte, 
who laughed heartily when Daniel inform- 
ed him what had occurred, and said he 
would call in the evening, and remain un- 
til the following morning, if necessary ; 
but did not hesitate to say, that what 
Daniel told him was all nonsense, remark- 
ing that he knew no such tomfoolery 
would occur while he was in the house. 



44 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

As the hands of the clock pointed to ten 
that evening, in walked the doctor. 
Wishing everybody a hearty good even- 
ing, he took a seat near Esther, who had 
been in bed since nine o'clock, but as yet 
had not been afflicted with one of her 
strange attacks of swelling, nor had any 
of the strange noises been heard. The 
doctor felt her pulse, looked at her 
tongue, and then told the family that she 
seemed to be suffering from nervous 
excitement, and had evidently received a 
tremendous shock of some kind. Just 
after he had given this opinion, and while 
he was still sitting by her side, the pillow 
on which her head was lying came out 
from under her head, with the exception of 
one corner, as if it was pulled by some 
invisible power, and straightening itself 
out, as if filled with air, remained so a 
moment, and then went back to its place 
again, under her head. 

The doctor's large, blue eyes opened to 
their utmost capacity as he asked in a low 
tone. 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 45 

" Did you see that ? It went back 
again." 

"So it did," remarked John Teed, "but 
if it moves out again it will not go back, 
for I intend to hold on to it, even if it did 
bang me over the head last night." 

John had no sooner spoken these words 
than out came the pillow from under 
Esther's head as before. He waited until 
it had just started back again, then grasped 
it with both hands and held it with all his 
strength, and he was, it must be remem- 
bered, a strong, healthy young farmer. 
However, all his efforts to hold it were 
unavailing, as it was pulled away from him 
by some invisible power stronger than 
himself, and again assumed its position 
under the young girl's head. Just imagine 
his astonishment. All the members of 
the family told me that they never saw 
any one so completely dumbfounded as 
John Teed was at that moment. 

" How wonderful ! " exclaimed Dr. Car- 
ritte. 

The doctor arose from his chair ; and 



46 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the loud reports commenced under the 
bed as on the previous nights. He looked 
beneath the bed but failed to*ascertain 
what had caused the sounds. He walked 
to the door and the sounds followed him, 
being now produced on the floor of the 
room. In about a minute after this the 
bed-clothes flew off again ; and before they 
had been put back on the bed to cover 
Esther, the distinct sound as of some 
person writing on the wall with a metallic 
instrument was heard. All looked at the 
wall whence the sound of writing came, 
when, to their great astonishment, there 
could be plainly read these words, " Esther 
Cox, you are mine to kill." Every person 
in the room could see the writing plainly, 
and yet a moment before nothing was to 
be seen but the plain kalsomined wall. I 
have seen this writing ; it was deeply 
indented in the wall and looked to me as 
if it had been written with a dull instru- 
ment, probably a large iron spike. I say 
a dull instrument because the writing had 
a very uneven appearance, and the invisi- 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 47 

ble power that wrote it was certainly 
neither an elegant nor an accomplished 
penman. It was similar in character to 
mysterious writing I saw during my resi- 
dence in this genuinely haunted house, 
that was written on paper and then either 
stuck on the wall with some sticky sub- 
stance by the power or came out of the 
air and fell at our feet. 

The reader can probably imagine their 
utter amazement at what had just taken 
place. There they stood around the bed 
of this suffering girl, each watching the 
other, to see that there could be no pos- 
sible mistake about what they saw and 
heard. They all knew these marvellous 
things had taken place, for each had heard 
and seen them with his or her own eyes and 
ears. Still they dare not trust their own 
senses ; it was all so strange, so different 
from any previous experience they had 
ever had, or heard of others having had ; 
that, they were all, without a single ex- 
ception, awed into silence with fear. The 
terrible words written on the wall, " Es- 



48 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

ther Cox, you are mine to kill." What 
could their import be ? Were they true ? 
What had written them ? All that was 
known was that they had heard the 
writing, had seen the letters appear, one 
by one upon the wall, until the sentence 
was complete, but there their knowledge 
stopped, and everything to their under- 
standing was as blank as the wall had been 
before the invisible power, that threatened 
to commit murder, had engraved upon 
that smooth white surface the terrifying 
sentence in characters nearly a foot in 
height. 

As Dr. Carritte stood in the door won- 
dering what it all meant, a large piece of 
plaster came flying from the wall of the 
room, turning a corner in its flight, and 
fell at his feet. The good doctor picked 
it up, mechanically, and placed it on a 
chair ; he was too much astonished to 
speak. Just after he had placed the 
piece of plaster on the chair, the fearfully 
loud pounding sounds commenced again 
with redoubled power, this time shaking 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 49 

the entire room and all it contained, in- 
cluding the doctor and other persons. 
All this time, Esther lay upon the 
bed almost frightened to death. After 
this state of things had continued for 
about two hours all became quiet, and 
Esther, poor girl, went to sleep. The 
doctor decided not to give her any medi- 
cine until the next morning, when he 
said he would call and give her something 
to quiet her nerves. 

As to the sounds, and movements of 
the bed-clothes and plaster and the 
mysterious writing, he could say nothing. 
He had heard and seen, and could not 
doubt his own senses ; but had no theory 
to offer that would solve the unanswer- 
able facts all had witnessed in the mani- 
festations of some invisible power seem- 
ing to possess human intelligence of a 
very low and most demoniacal type. The 
next morning Dr. Carritte called, as he 
had promised, and was greatly surprised 
to see Esther up and dressed, helping 
Mrs. Teed to wash the breakfast dishes. 



50 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

She told him she felt all right again, 
except that she was so nervous that any 
sudden sound startled her and made her 
jump. Having occasion to go down into 
the cellar with a pan of milk, she came 
running up, out of breath, and stated that 
there was some one in the cellar who had 
thrown a piece of plank at her. The 
doctor went down to see for himself, 
Esther remaining in the dining-room. 
The cellar stairs being directly under the 
stairway in the hall, the door to the cellar, 
of course, opened into the dining-room. 
In a moment he came up again, remark- 
ing that there was not any person down 
there to throw a piece of plank or any- 
thing else. 

" Esther, come down with me," said he. 

They both went down ; when, to their 
great surprise, several potatoes came fly- 
ing at their heads ; and both ran up the 
cellar stairs. The doctor immediately 
left the house, and called again in the 
evening with several very powerful seda- 
tives, morphia being one, which he ad- 






THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 5 1 

ministered to 'Esther at about ten o'clock, 
as she lay in bed. She still complained 
of her nervousness, and said she felt as 
though electricity was passing all through 
her body. He had given her the sedative 
medicine, and had just stated that she 
would have a good night's rest, when the 
sounds commenced, only they were much 
louder and in more rapid succession than 
on the previous nights. Presently the 
sounds left the room and were heard dis- 
tinctly on the roof of the house. The 
doctor instantly left the house and went 
into the street, were he heard the sounds 
in the open air. 

On returning to the house he was more 
nonplussed than ever ; and informed the 
family that when in the street it seemed 
as if some person was on the roof with a 
heavy sledge-hammer, pounding away to 
try and break through the shingles. Be- 
ing a moonlight night he could see dis- 
tinctly that there was not any person 
upon the roof. He remained on this oc- 
casion until midnight, when all became 



52 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

quiet, and he departed, promising to call 
the next day. When he had gotten as 
far as the front gate, the heavy poundings 
commenced again on the roof with great 
violence, and continued until he had gone 
about two hundred yards from the cot- 
tage, at which distance he could still hear 
them distinctly. Dr. Carritte told me 
this himself. The next week it became 
known throughout Amherst that strange 
manifestations of an unknown power, that 
was invisible, were going on at Daniel 
Teed's cottage. The mysterious sounds 
had been heard by people in the street as 
they passed the house, and several ac- 
counts had been printed in the Amherst 
Gazette and copied in other papers. The 
pounding sounds now commenced in the 
morning and were to be heard all day. 
Poor Esther, whom the power had chosen 
as its victim to kill, always felt relieved 
when the sounds were produced. 

About one month after the commence- 
ment of the wonders, Rev. Dr. Edwin 
Clay, the well-known Baptist clergyman, 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 53 

called at the house to see and hear the 
wonders of which he had read some 
accounts in the newspapers, but was de- 
sirous of seeing and hearing for himself ; 
and he was fortunate enough to have his 
desire fully gratified by hearing the loud- 
est kind of sounds, and seeing the writing 
on the wall. When he left the house he 
was fully satisfied that Esther did not in 
any way produce the sounds herself, and 
that the family had nothing whatever to 
do with them. He, however, agreed with 
Dr. Carritte in his theory that her nerves 
had received a shock of some kind, making 
her, in some mysterious manner, an elec- 
tric battery. His idea being that invisible 
flashes of lightning left her person and 
that the sounds, which every person could 
hear so distinctly, were simply minute 
peals of thunder. So convinced was he 
that he had ascertained the cause, and 
that there was no deception in regard to 
the manifestations of the power, that he 
delivered lectures on the subject and drew 
large audiences. He always nobly de- 



54 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

fended Esther Cox and the family, when 
charged by unthinking people with fraud, 
and spoke of the affair often from the 
pulpit. Rev. R. A. Temple, the well- 
known Wesleyan minister, pastor of the 
Wesleyan Church in Amherst, which the 
Teed family attended, also witnessed the 
manifestations. He saw, among other 
strange things, a bucket of cold water be- 
come agitated and, to all appearances, boil 
while standing on the kitchen table. 

When the inhabitants of Amherst heard 
that such eminent and worthy men as 
Rev. Dr. Edwin Clay, Rev. Dr. R. A. 
Temple and the genial and ever popular 
Dr. Carritte, took an interest in the 
haunted house of Daniel Teed, the shoe- 
maker, it became fashionable for even the 
most exclusive class to call at the cottage 
to hear and see the wonders. They would 
come in parties and many heard the pow- 
er make the sounds who would not allow 
their names to be mentioned in connection 
with the affair. Often while the house 
was filled with visitors, large crowds 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 5^ 

would stand outside unable to gain admit- 
tance because there was not room enough 
inside. On several of these occasions, 
the Amherst police force had to be called 
out to keep order. Dr. Carritte, who 
continued to be one of the daily callers 
at the cottage, would have a theory one 
day that would seem to account for the 
sounds he heard and unknown power he 
witnessed, and the next day something 
would occur and upset his latest theory, 
so completely, that he finally gave up in 
despair and became simply a passive 
spectator. The power continued to mani- 
fest itself until December, when Esther, 
the victim of so much fear and torture, 
was taken ill with diphtheria and confined 
to her bed for about two weeks, during 
which period the power ceased to torment 
her, and all the sounds ceased. After she 
recovered from this illness, she went to 
Sackville, New Brunswick, to visit her 
other married sister, Mrs. John Snowden, 
remaining at her house for about two 
weeks. The power did not follow her; 



56 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

and while there she was free from the 
torture it gave her, when moving about 
in her abdomen, which caused her to swell 
so fearfully and feel like bursting. 

On returning to Daniel's cottage, the 
most startling and peculiar features of 
the power took place. One night while 
in bed with her sister Jennie, in another 
room, their room having been changed in 
hope the power would not follow them, 
she told Jennie that she could hear a 
voice informing her that the house was to 
be set on fire that night by a ghost. The 
voice stated it had once lived on the earth, 
but had been dead for some years and 
was now only a ghost. 

The members of the household were at 
once called in and told what Esther had 
said. They all laughed and informed the 
girls that no such thing as that could 
possibly have been said, because there 
were no ghosts. Rev. Dr. Clay had 
stated that all the trouble had been caused 
by electricity. 

"And," said Daniel, "electricitv cannot 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 57 

set the house on fire, unless it comes from 
a cloud in the form of lightning." 

To the amazement and consternation 
of all present, while they were talking 
and laughing about the ridiculous state- 
ment the girls had made, as having come 
from the voice of a ghost to Esther, all 
saw a lighted match fall from the ceiling 
to the bed, having come out of the air, 
which would certainly have set the bed- 
clothing on fire, had not Jennie put it out, 
instantly. During the next ten minutes, 
eight or ten lighted matches fell on the 
bed and about the room, out of the air, 
but were all extinguished before anything 
could be set on fire by them. In the 
course of the night the loud sounds 
commenced again. 

It seems that about three weeks after 
Dr. Carritte's first visit to the cottage, 
Jennie stated that she believed that the 
power that made the sounds and lit the 
matches could hear and understand all 
that was said and perhaps could see 
them. The moment she had finished the 



58 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

sentence, three distinct reports were 
heard ; and, on Daniel requesting Dr. 
Carritte to ask the power if it could hear, 
three reports were heard, which shook the 
entire house. Dr. Carritte remarked at 
the time that it was very singular. Daniel 
then asked if the power could tell how 
many persons were in the room, and not 
receiving a reply, repeated the question 
in this form, 

" How many persons are in the room ? 
Give a knock on the floor for each one." 

Six distinct knocks were instantly made 
by the power on the floor ; and there were 
just six persons in the room at the time, 
they being Dr. Carritte, Daniel Teed, his 
wife, Esther, Jennie and William Cox ; 
John Teed having left the room after poor 
Esther had buried her face in the pil- 
low as she lay in bed, trembling with 
fright. 

The family could now converse with 
the power in this way. It would knock 
once for a negative answer, and three 
times for an answer in the affirmative. 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 5§ 

giving only two knocks when in doubt 
about a reply. 

This system of communication had been 
suggested by a visitor. And it was in this 
way that they had carried on a conversa- 
tion the night the matches fell upon the 
bed from the ceiling. 

Daniel asked if the house would really 
be set on fire, and the reply was "Yes." 
And a fire was started in about five min- 
utes in the following manner. The invisi- 
ble ghost that had spoken to Esther took a 
dress belonging to her that was hanging 
on a nail in the wall near the door and, 
after rolling it up and placing it under the 
bed before their eyes, but so quickly that 
they could not prevent the action, set it 
on fire. Fortunately, the dress was at 
once pulled from under the bed by Daniel 
and the fire extinguished before any seri- 
ous damage had been done to the mate- 
rial. 

Daniel told me that when the dress was 
being rolled up and put under the bed, 
they could not see the ghost doing it. All 



60 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

was then quiet for the rest of the night ; 
no one daring to go to bed, however, 
for fear another fire would be kindled. 

The next morning all was consterna- 
tion in the cottage. Daniel and his wife 
were afraid that the gdiost would start a 
fire in some inaccessible place, where it 
could not be extinguished, in which case 
no one could save the cottage from burn- 
ing to the ground. 

All the family were now fully convinced 
that the mysterious power was really what 
it claimed to be, the ghost of some very 
evil man who had once lived upon the earth, 
and in some unknown manner managed 
to torture poor Esther, as only such a 
ghost would. 

Daniel Teed explained the true nature 
of the torture to me, but it must be name- 
less here. And now to that nameless 
horror was added the fear of their home 
being destroyed by a fire kindled by this 
demon, with matches stolen from the 
match box in the kitchen and which could 
not be hidden from him in any part 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 6 1 

of the house where he could not find 
them. 

About three days after the ghost had 
tried to set the bed on fire by lighting it 
with the burning dress, Mrs. Teed, while 
churning in the kitchen, noticed smoke 
issuing from the cellar door, which, as I 
have already explained, opened into the 
dining-room. Esther at the time was 
seated in the dining-room, and had been 
there for an hour or more previous to which 
she had been in the kitchen assisting her 
sister to wash the breakfast dishes. 

They both told me, during my residence 
in the house, that when they first discov- 
ered the smoke on this occasion they 
were so terrified for the moment that 
neither of them could move. 

Mrs. Teed was the first to recover from 
the shock, and seizing a bucket of drink- 
ing water, always kept standing on the 
kitchen table, she rushed down the cellar 
stairs, and in the far corner of the cellar, 
saw a barrel of shavings blazing up 
almost to the joists of the main floor of 



62 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the house. In the meantime, Esther had 
reached the cellar and stood as if petrified 
with astonishment. Mrs. Teed poured 
what water the bucket contained (for 
in the excitement she had spilled more 
than half on her way down) into the 
burning shavings, and both she and 
Esther, being almost choked with smoke, 
ran up the cellar stairs and out of the 
house into Princess street, crying, fire ! 
fire ! as loudly as they could. 

Their cries aroused the entire neieh- 
borhood. Several men rushed .in, and while 
some smothered the now burning barrel 
with rugs from the dining-room floor, 
others put it out entirely with water they 
obtained from a large butt into which the 
rain water ran, and was saved for washing 
purposes. 

The Amherst Gazette published an ac- 
count of the fire kindled by the power, and 
as the article was, of course,copied through- 
out Canada, as articles from that admirable 
paper always are, a tremendous sensation 
was created and genuine curiosity aroused, 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 63 

Thousands of people who had set the 
whole affair down as a first-class fraud, 
began to think there might be something 
in it after all ; for certainly no young girl 
could set fire to a barrel of shavings in 
the cellar and be at the same time in one 
of the rooms above, under the watchful 
eyes of an elder sister, out of whose sight 
she never dared to go for fear the ghost 
would murder her. 

The fact that both the little boys were 
playing in the front yard at the time the 
fire was started, and consequently could 
not have had anything to do with setting 
it, was also calculated to throw an air of 
still greater mystery around the whole 
affair. 

The family and Dr. Carritte alone 
knew that the fire had been started by the 
ghost. The fire marshals of Amherst 
were of the opinion that, in some unex- 
plained manner, Esther had kindled the 
fire. The inhabitants had various theories. 

Dr. Nathan Tupper, who had never 
witnessed a single manifestation, sug- 



64 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

gested that if a strong raw-hide whip were 
laid across Esther's bare shoulders by a 
powerful arm, the tricks of the girl would 
cease at once. 

During the following week the ghost 
gave as much evidence of power as ever ; 
and the excitement in the village became 
intense. 

If Daniel Teed's cottage caught fire 
while the wind was blowing from the bay, 
when it would be most favorable for such 
a terrible catastrophe, nothing could pos- 
sibly save the little village from being 
reduced to ashes. As if to pile horror 
upon horror, one night while Esther and 
the entire family were sitting in the par- 
lor the ghost became visible to her. 
When she saw him first she started to her 
feet and seemed about to fall dead from 
fright. Recovering her strength and 
self-possession in a moment, however, 
she pointed to a distant corner of the 
room with her trembling hand, and 
exclaimed in a hoarse and broken voice, 

" Look there ! Look there ! My God, it 



THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 05 

is the ghost ! Don't you all see him, too ? 
There he stands ! See, his eyes are 
glaring ; and he laughs, and says I must 
leave this house to-night, or he will kindle 
a fire in the loft under the roof and burn 
us all to death. Oh ! what shall I do ? 
Where shall I go ? The ground is 
covered with snow, and yet I must not 
remain here, for he will do what he threat- 
ens ; he always does. If I were dead — " 

Then she fell to the floor, in an agony 
of grief and fear, weeping aloud for a 
moment, and then all was still. It was 
truly a most trying moment for the family, 
not one of whom could see the ghost. 

Daniel lifted her from the floor, and 
after placing her upon the sofa, concluded 
that something would have to be done, 
and quickly too; for it was a windy 
night and the ghost would certainly do 
what he had threatened, the house 
would be burned and perhaps the whole 
village. 

" You must go, Esther," he said ; "but 
remember, I do not turn you out ; it is this 



66 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

devilish ghost who drives you from your 
home." 

The family knew none of the neighbors 
would shelter Esther, because they all 
feared the unknown power, as they termed 
it. But it suddenly occurred to them that 
John White, a man who had always 
taken a deep interest in the terrible 
power as he called it, would take her into 
his house for the present, at least, as he 
had often expressed pity for the unhappy 
girl. After putting on his heavy coat, 
Daniel went out into the snow and intense 
cold to Mr. White's house, which fortun- 
ately was not far. After knocking for 
some time, the door was opened by John 
White, himself. He looked at Daniel a 
moment in amazement, asked him in, and 
then said, 

"What's the matter, Teed? Has the 
house been burned down, or has the girl 
burst all to pieces ; which ?" 

" Neither, " replied Daniel ; who then 
explained his mission in as few words as 
possible, John White said he would ask 






THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 6j 

his wife, and if she was not afraid it 
would be all right. He asked his wife 
and, fortunately for the wretched girl, she 
did not object. Daniel hastened home, 
fearing the ghost would start a fire before 
his return. Telling Esther to put on her 
hat and cloak as quickly as she could and 
go at once to Mr. White's with him, they 
started out into the snow ; and that was 
why, on that sad night, the demonized 
Esther changed her home. 



68 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 



A maiden followed by a man 's afraid; 

A ghost is worse if fresh from hell he's strayed. 

When John White took Esther to his 
home to reside, he performed a deed of 
charity that no one in the village except 
himself had the courage to attempt. 
Both he and his good wife showed by the 
kindness with which they treated the un- 
happy girl, that she had their sympathy. 

It was now January, 1879, nearly five 
months since the haunting of the house 
by the ghost had first commenced. 
Esther had been at White's residence two 
weeks, and had not heard anything of her 
tormentor. She was contented, and con- 
sequently happy, having improved in 
health very much in that short time ; her 
nervousness and fear of the ghost having 
almost subsided, Mrs. White, who found 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 69 

her of great assistance in the house, had 
become much attached to the girl, and 
always treated her with the same kind- 
ness, and gave her the same personal at- 
tention, that she did her own children. 
She went to church, read her bible, sewed 
and did housework with the family, and 
was simply treated as a guest who did 
not like to remain idle. Toward the end 
of the third week it became known as a 
fact that Daniel Teed's little cottage was 
no longer haunted by the ghost. People 
in Amherst all thought that as the power 
had succeeded in driving Esther from 
home, it was content to allow the other 
members of the Teed family to live in 
peace. 

It was at the end of the fourth week of 
her residence in John White's peaceful 
home, that to the dismay of all in the 
house, and horror of the village, her old 
enemy, the ghost, commenced his devilish 
work again. One day, while scrubbing 
the hall at her new home, she was aston- 
ished to see her scrubbing brush disappear 



JO THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

from her hand. When the ghost told her 
that he had taken it, she became thor- 
oughly alarmed and immediately screamed 
at the top of her voice for Mrs. White, 
who, with her daughter, Mary, came run- 
ning down stairs to her assistance, sup- 
posing she had fallen and injured herself. 
When informed by Esther that the 
ghost had actually followed her to their 
home, their feelings can be better imag- 
ined than described. Mrs. White and 
Mary searched the hall and examined the 
water in the scrub-bucket, but all to no 
purpose ; the brush could not be found. 
After they had abandoned their search, to 
the great astonishment of all, the brush 
fell from the ceiling, just grazing Esther's 
head in its fall. Here was a new phase 
of the ghost's power. He, a genuine 
ghost, was able to take a solid substance 
from our material world, and render it 
invisible to us by carrying it into his 
mysterious state of existence ; and now 
since it was known he could take one 
object, why could he not take another — if 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. ft 

a brush why not the bucket. Nay, even 
Esther herself might be carried off by 
this demoniacal ghost, who was invisible 
to all persons except herself. But why 
speculate on so great a mystery here. 
Let science solve the problem. For the 
next week, very remarkable phenomena 
continued to take place at Mr. White's. 
The ghost could now tell how much 
money people had in their pockets, both 
by knocking on the floor and wall, or on a 
table, or by telling Esther so that she 
could tell others. He would answer any 
question asked in those two ways, and be- 
haved himself in a very gentle manner, until 
the end of the sixth week of her residence 
there, when he began his devilish old 
tricks again. He commenced kindling 
fires about the White homestead, and 
walking about the house, so that he could 
be heard by all persons present. Again 
terror reigned supreme, as in the Teed 
cottage. John White would not, of course, 
run any risk in having his new and well- 
built villa destroyed by fire while he was 



72 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

attending to business, and so persuaded 
Esther to remain all day long- with him 
in his dining-saloon, which stood directly 
opposite Bird's book store on the main 
street of the village. 

While she stood behind the counter in 
the dining-saloon, or when working in 
the adjoining kitchen, many new and 
wonderful things were witnessed by the 
inhabitants of Amherst, and by the 
strangers who had come from a distance ; 
and many experiments were tried to pre- 
vent the ghost, who followed poor Esther 
every day to White's place of business 
and home again at night, from giving 
manifestations of his power. 

Among other experiments, some one 
suowsted that if Esther could stand on 
glass the power would cease for the time 
being, and perhaps for ever. Acting 
upon this suggestion, pieces of glass were 
put into her shoes ; but as their presence 
caused her head to ache and nose to 
bleed, without stopping the working of 
the power, the idea was abandoned. 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 73 

One morning the door of the large 
cooking-stove in the kitchen, adjoining 
the saloon, was opened and shut so inces- 
santly by the ghost, that the noise 
annoyed Mr. White, who with an old axe- 
handle, so braced the stove door that it 
could not be moved, by any known mun- 
dane power, without first removing the 
axe-handle. A moment afterwards, how- 
ever, the ghost, who seemed never for an 
instant to leave the girl's presence while 
she was in the saloon, lifted the door off 
its hinges, and removed the axe-handle 
from the position in which it had been 
placed, then, after throwing them a con- 
siderable distance into the air, let both fall 
to the floor with a tremendous crash. 
Mr. White was speechless with astonish- 
ment ; but when he had recovered from 
his surprise he went to the saloon door 
and called in Mr. W. H. Rogers, Inspec- 
tor of Fisheries for Nova Scotia, at that 
time (1879), wno happened to be passing 
in the street. After bracing the door as 
before, the same wonderful manifestation 



74 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

was repeated in the presence of Mr. 
Rogers, Esther and Frederick White. 

On another occasion, a clasp knife 
belonging to little Frederick White, Mr. 
White's son, was taken from his hand, 
while he was whittling something, by the 
devilish ghost, who instantly stabbed 
Esther in the back with it, leaving the 
knife sticking in the wound, which was 
bleeding profusely. Frederick pulled the 
bloody knife from the wound, wiped it, 
closed it and put it in his pocket, which 
he had no sooner done than the ghost 
obtained possession of it again and, as 
quick as a flash of lightning, stuck it 
into the same wound. Frederick again 
pulled it out and, after wiping and closing 
it as before, put it into the cash-drawer, 
which he locked, and put the key in his 
pocket. Frederick told me this himself, 
and was corroborated by his father and 
others. 

There was something still more re- 
markable, however, about the following 
fact. Some person tried the experiment 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 75 

of placing three or four large iron spikes 
on Esther's lap while she was seated in 
the dinine-saloon. To the unutterable 
astonishment of Mr. White, Frederick 
and the other persons present, the spikes 
were not instantly removed, as it was ex- 
pected they would be, but, instead, re- 
mained on her lap until they became too 
hot to be handled with comfort, when 
they were thrown by the 'ghost to the 
far end of the saloon, a distance of twenty 
feet. This fact was fully corroborated. 

It was during her daily occupation in 
the saloon, that the ghost commenced to 
make the furniture move about, and that, 
too, in the bright light of day. On one 
occasion, a large box, weighing fifty 
pounds, was moved a distance of fifteen 
feet without the slightest visible cause. 
The very loudest kind of knocking com- 
menced again, and was heard by large 
crowds of people ; the saloon being con- 
tinually filled with visitors. I saw the 
box, the stove door and the axe handle. 

Among other well known inhabitants 



?6 The great amhErst mystery. 

of Amherst, who heard and saw the won- 
ders at this period, I may mention William 
Hillson, Daniel Morrison, Robert Hutch- 
inson, who was John White's son-in-law ; 
and last, but not least, a most important 
witness, J. Albert Black, esq., editor and 
proprietor of the Amherst Gazette. 

Toward the latter part of March, Es- 
ther went to St. John, New Brunswick. 
On March 25th and 26th, Mr. Nannery s 
company, of which, of course, I was still 
a member, played in Amherst ; and it was 
then, while Esther was in St. John, that 
I entered into an arrangement with Mr. 
John White, to go into partnership with 
him and lecture on the Great Amherst 
Mystery, on my return from the Island of 
Newfoundland, provided Esther would go 
with us and remain seated upon the stage 
while I delivered the lecture. My inten- 
tion being, as already stated, to expose 
the mystery ; and make money out of it 
while so doing, which I considered a 
grand scheme for the summer season. 

While in Amherst, on this occasion, I 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. J J 

went to Daniel Teed's cottage, and was 
informed that the ghost had followed her 
to St. John. I also saw and conversed 
with a number of persons, who related 
marvellous accounts of " the power," as 
they called it. While in St. John, Es- 
ther was the guest of Captain James 
Beck, and lived at his house, under the 
immediate care and protection of his wife, 
Her remarkable case was investigated by 
numbers of persons, well known in St. 
John as men whose minds were devoted to 
occult science. Doctor Alward, Mr. Amos 
Fales, Mr. Alexander Christie, Mr. 
Ritchie and others witnessed various 
phases of the power, and talked with the 
ghost by the aid of knocks on the walls 
and household furniture, and, wonderful 
to relate, claimed that other ghosts came 
and conversed, also, by knocking. 

After remaining in St. John about three 
weeks, Esther returned to Amherst, and 
accepted an invitation to visit Mr. and 
Mrs. Van Amburgh, at their farm, about 
two and one-half miles from the village. 



yS THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

She remained eight weeks with them, 
during which period the ghost allowed 
her to enjoy a life of the most rural 
repose with her kind-hearted friends in 
their pleasant home, which is, literally, 
situated in the woods. He would only 
knock occasionally, but never tortured 
her in any way. I afterwards met Mr. 
and Mrs. Van Amburgh, at their farm ; 
also, Mr. Van Amburgh's aged mother, 
who was blind, and had been so for a 
number of years. She must have been 
seventy-five or eighty years of age at the 
time, and perhaps older, and passed her 
time in an easy chair, where she enjoyed 
smoking a clay pipe, which her son filled 
for her. She told me she had used 
tobacco for about forty years. She was 
possessed of remarkable conversational 
power for so old a lady. 

Mrs. Van Amburgh was a blonde, and 
very pleasant. I should judge that she 
was much younger than her husband. 
Mr. Van Amburgh had been a sailor, and 
had travelled to all parts of the world ; 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 79 

was about fifty years of age, tall and lean, 
and wore a long, tawney beard ; had 
brown hair and blue eyes — altogether, I 
found him a most agreeable man. He 
informed me that Van Amburgh, the cele- 
brated lion-tamer, was his uncle ; spoke 
of his relative's wonderful power over 
wild beasts, but attributed it to strong 
nerves and a brave, daring nature, to 
which was added an inborn love of all 
animals. 

Esther seemed so happy with the Van 
Amburghs that all her friends hoped she 
would remain with them until the ghost 
had left her never to return. While there, 
she worked about the house with Mrs. 
Van Amburgh, played with the children, 
and but rarely came into the village to 
visit, and then always returned to the 
farm to sleep ; her family and friends all 
being afraid to have her remain in their 
houses during the night. It was even 
suggested that Mr. Van Amburgh pos- 
sessed an influence over the ghost similar 
to the alleged influence his illustrious 



SO THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

kinsman was said to have had over wild 
beasts. However, I never could ascer- 
tain that such a theory had a substantial 
foundation. No person had any power 
over the ghost to my knowledge, and 
everything I ever saw or knew to be 
tried failed to check his terrible power 
when he chose to make a pandemonium 
of the haunted house. 

There was one very remarkable thing 
about the power, however, that is worth 
recording here, as it may give men of 
science a clue. It will be remembered 
that it first commenced on September 
4th, 1878, by moving inside the mattress, 
on which occasion Jennie and Esther 
thought a mouse was in the bed, and it was 
always at its greatest strength as a power 
within the atmosphere every twenty-eight 
days. The changes of the moon, perhaps, 
had something to do with it. I consider 
this mere suggestion on my part, sufficient 
to set, particularly, the physicians think- 
ing. 

At the expiration of the eighth week of 



FOLLOWED BY THE GHOST. 8 1 

her visit to the farm, Esther returned to 
Amherst, having become weary of the 
dull life she was compelled to lead in the 
woods. Believing that the ghost had left 
her, Mr. John White gave her a position 
again in his saloon, where she was kept 
occupied all day ; and Daniel Teed took 
her back to his little cottage, whence she 
had been so cruelly driven on that mem- 
orable night, into the snow, followed by 
the phantom form of her old tormentor, 
the fire-fiend, who had written upon the 
wall, " Esther Cox, you are mine to kill." 



82 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 



I've heard strange tales, and thought them only lies; 
But time works wonders through our ears and eyes. 

After spending the winter in Halifax, 
where we all had the usual experience of 
members of the dramatic profession when 
playing in the provinces, we left that 
city of the Citadel filled with British 
troops, for Newfoundland, arriving at that 
island, after a very rough passage, April 
5th, in the steamer Newfoundland, Cap- 
tain Mylius, a Greek. When I look back 
now at the voyage, I think it must have 
been unusually rough, for I remember that 
all on board were seasick, except Captain 
Mylius and myself, and we never missed 
a meal. The whole company did not 
come with us, however ; the others arriving 
a few days later in the Alhambra. 

I saw icebergs ; and had a most delightful 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. • 53 

time in St. John's, which is built on a high 
hill. Mr. Lewis Baker and I boarded 
with the wife of a seal hunter, named 
James Hennessey, who was at the time 
off on a voyage in the Bear, afterwards 
one of the celebrated Greeley relief ships. 
It is really incredible how many seals are 
killed each year by these hunters. The 
season we were there, over one hundred 
and fifty thousand pelts were brought in, 
and the fat taken off and put into large 
tanks, where it was pressed into oil. The 
skins are made into boots, caps, rough 
coats, etc.; but, of course, are useless for 
those elegant sealskin coats and sacques 
worn in the United States. By-the-way, 
codfish are brought into St. John's by the 
ton. 

Mr. Hennessey returned while we were 
there, and brought seals freshly killed, 
which we had for dinner. Mr. Baker and 
I ate some, out of respect for the family's 
feelings, and it tasted to me as I imag- 
ined a polar bear would, if boiled in cod- 
liver oil. One such banquet was suffi- 



84 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

cient, and I never indulged in the luxury 
again, nor did Mr. Baker. 

Having sent three young Newfound- 
land dogs home from Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, as already stated, I made inquiry, 
while on the Island, concerning the origin 
of the breed, and was told by persons in St. 
John's, well informed on the subject, 
that these beautiful and sagacious dogs 
originated in a cross between the English 
mastiffs of the present rulers, and the 
beautiful jet-black water-spaniels of the 
French, who formerly held possession 
of the Island. The rigorous climate and 
substantial fish diet have developed these 
dogs into their present state of perfec- 
tion. They are superior to the St. 
Bernard breed of dogs in my estimation. 

While I was there, the inhabitants, as a 
rule, were opposed to being in the 
Dominion of Canada — and were not in it. 
Many of the leading and most influential 
citizens of St. John's often expressed 
themselves in favor of annexation to the 
United States. And why not ? I think 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 85 

some day the Island of Newfoundland, 
with its evergreen trees and beautiful 
bays, will be ours ; and will then become 
the great port for passengers to start to 
Great Britain from. It is only about four 
days from there to Liverpool, and the 
journey to St. John's can easily be made 
by rail, with the exception of crossing the 
strait of Belle Isle, when American capi- 
tal and enterprise have built the railroad, 
which, of course, would soon be done. 

It was while playing in Newfoundland 
that I corresponded with Mr. John White, 
of Amherst, Nova Scotia, in reference to 
commencing a tour of the Provinces with 
Esther Cox, having in view the prospect 
of taking her to Boston and New York, 
at a subsequent day, as the greatest 
wonder of the nineteenth century — a 
simple-hearted village maiden followed 
by a ghost from Nova Scotia. 

In his letters, Mr. White informed me 
that Esther was again working in his 
saloon in the daytime, and sleeping at 
Mr. Daniel Teed's cottage at night. He 



86 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

stated that the " terrible power, still pro- 
duced the wonderful works of the devil," 
and urged me to come to Amherst at the 
earliest possible day, write the lecture I was 
to deliver, and start on our tour before the 
power either killed Esther or burned 
Amherst to the ground. I replied, that I 
would leave Newfoundland as soon as 
our season closed, which would be about 
the first week in June, and advised him 
to do whatever he could to prevent the 
poor girl from being murdered ; suggested 
that he remain in her presence all day, 
so that he could pull out any weapon with 
which she might be stabbed ; to always 
have water ready to put out the fires 
kindled by the devil, and to advise the 
Teed family to take like precautions 
while Esther was in the cottage 

I left St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 
Alhambra, the same vessel I arrived in 
Halifax on- On June 2d, I arrived in 
Halifax harbor, one of the most beautful 
in the world, and on June 1 ith started for 
Amherst, arriving there the same day. 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 87 

And it was on that never to be forgotten 
day that I met Esther Cox for the first 
time. Mr. White, who had made all the 
necessary arrangements for us to start at 
once on our tour, met me at the station, 
and we went to his dining-saloon to 
dinner. After dinner he accompanied 
me to the cottage of Daniel Teed, where I 
was introduced to Mrs. Teed and Esther. 
Esther was very self-possessed, appeared 
to be in excellent health, and informed 
me that Bob, the ghost, said her going 
with us "was all right," and that 
Maggie, another ghost who followed her 
now, said the same thing. Well, I just 
looked at her; that was all I could do, after 
such a statement on her part. I was will- 
ing to acknowledge that there might be a 
power of some kind about the girl, but, of 
course, nothing supernatural ; no ghosts, 
or such delusions of the imagination. I 
let Mr. White talk about the wonders of 
the power, and listened to what Mrs. Teed 
had to say in silence. I was perfectly 
willing to write a lecture from what the 



88 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

family told me of the affair and what I 
could obtain from newspaper reports, and 
to deliver it with proper effect to as large 
audiences as her tremendous reputation 
could draw — in fact, to run the enterprise 
as a business transaction ; but, as to 
believing in the ghostly part of it, that was 
out of the question. I would expose that; 
for I had been so successful in exposing 
alleged " mediums" in the United States, 
that I felt it would only be a short time 
before I should see exactly how she 
managed to humbug people so success- 
fully as to become the wonder and talk 
of Canada. We finally talked about 
other subjects, and I left the house in 
about an hour with Mr. White to visit 
his family, accepting an invitation from 
Esther to call again in the evening. Mr. 
White called with me in the evening, and 
I was introduced to Daniel Teed, Jennie 
Cox and Mr. Ouigley, a friend of theirs. 
They all talked about the wonderful 
power, and what it could do, suggesting 
that we adjourn to the dining-room, where 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 89 

there was a large table, and hear the 
ghosts knock. We went, and had only 
been seated near the table a few minutes 
when an invisible power, seeming to 
possess intelligence, commenced to pro- 
duce sounds, apparently with human 
hands that could not be seen. We could 
all hear even the scratching sounds of 
invisible human finger nails, and the dull 
sounds produced by the hands, as they 
rubbed the table, and struck it with invi- 
sible, clenched fists, in knocking in 
response to questions. Esther said that 
Bob and Maggie, the ghosts, were both 
present, and requested me to ask a few 
questions, each of the others having had 
their turn. I asked the number of my 
watch, and it was correctly knocked, figure 
by figure, commencing at the left or first 
figure. I asked the time by the dining- 
room clock, % and it was knocked in the 
same manner (being twelve minutes 
of ten p. m.). The power then beat cor- 
rect time, while I whistled, " Yankee 
Doodle." I asked the date of a coin in 



go THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

my pocket, and it was knocked correctly, 
being " 1876." All the knocks were upon 
the table and nowhere else during the 
evening ; and we did not put our hands 
upon the table, nor sing " Nearer, My 
God, to Thee." I watched all the persons 
present, saw their hands and feet by the 
light of the coal-oil lamp in the room, and 
no one present knew the number of my 
watch, nor date of the coin in my pocket — 
not even myself. This was my first experi- 
ence with the remarkable power known as 
The Great Amherst Mystery. 

It being about eleven p. m., I bade 
everybody good night and departed, 
going at once to the principal hotel, 
where I took a room, lit my pipe, and for 
a long time lay awake to ponder over 
what I had heard. The next day, June 
1 2th, I commenced writing my lecture 
in the haunted house, where I had spent 
such an interesting evening, and at nearly 
twelve o'clock, Esther Cox, Mr. White 
and myself left Amherst, for Moncton, 
New Brunswick, where I finished the 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 9 1 

lecture from what Mr. White and Esther 
told me of the mysterious power. When 
we left Amherst, there was a large crowd 
at the station to see Esther off, and 
among the persons a man who had endea- 
vored to get her to go away with him to 
give manifestations of the power through- 
out the country ; an offer she had declined, 
preferring to go under Mr. White's care, 
because so well acquainted with his wife 
and daughter. This man, we believe, 
afterwards caused us a great deal of annoy- 
ance. In Moncton, we all stopped at the 
American House, and while Esther and I 
were in the parlor, one of the ghosts 
rocked a large rocking-chair, while she 
sat about fifteen feet from it. I delivered 
two lectures on the mystery, and left town 
Saturday night for Chatham, New Bruns- 
wick, Esther remaining in Moncton with 
Mr. White and their friends. The follow- 
ing notices appeared in the papers about 
Esther, but were not written by me, nor 
did I ever know positively who wrote 
them, never having seen them until hand- 



92 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

ed to me by Mr. White, on his arrival in 
Chatham. It was my intention to give 
three lectures a week, hoping that the 
ghosts would knock and move objects on 
the stage, where Esther always sat to the 
"left of center," while I lectured. 

[From the Moncton Despatch, June 18, 1879.] 

THE AMHERST MYSTERY IN MONCTON. 



Miss Esther Cox arrived here in care of friends, 
on Friday afternoon last, and a detailed account of 
the manifestations and working of the mystery were 
given in Ruddick's Hall, on Friday evening and 
Saturday. Sunday evening, Miss Cox essayed to 
attend service at the Baptist church, but during the 
first singing, the ghost, which had been quiet for 
some days, again manifested itself by knocking, 
apparently, on the floor of the pew in front. When 
told to stop by Miss Cox, it would cease the noise 
for a moment, but then break out worse than ever. 
Throughout the prayer it continued; anjl when the 
organ began for the second singing, the noise 
became so distinct and disturbing that Miss Cox 
and party were forced to leave the church. Upon 
reaching the house on Wesley street, where they 
were stopping, the ghost seemed to enter into Miss 
Cox, and she was sick and insensible until morning. 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 93 

Lying upon the bed, she seemed for a time in great 
pain, her chest heaving as though in a rapid 
succession of hiccoughs, and her body and limbs 
being very much swollen. A medical gentleman 
of this town, who saw her at this time, stated that 
the symptoms were as those of a functional heart 
disease, probably caused by nervous excitement. 
The heart was beating at an exceedingly rapid rate, 
and the lungs seemed gorged with blood, so that a 
portion was forced into the stomach, causing the 
patient to vomit blood afterwards. A sound could 
be distinctly heard in the region of the heart, 
resembling the shaking of water in a muffled bottle, 
supposed to be caused by the blood in a cavity 
being shaken by the violent hiccough motion of the 
body. As to the cause of the affection, that is the 
mystery. Toward morning Miss Cox relapsed into 
a state of somnolence and late in the day awoke, 
seeming entirely recovered. She states, however, 
that on Monday afternoon, while sitting near the 
window of a room on the ground floor, a fan dropped 
out of the window ; she went outside to recover it, 
and on returning, a chair, from the opposite side of 
the room, was found upside down near the door, as 
though it had attempted to follow her out of the 
room. No one else witnessed this occurrence. 
Again, while writing, the ghost took possession of 
the pen, and wrote in a different hand altogether 
other and entirely different words from what were 
intended ; in fact, it wrote of itself, the young lady 



94 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

being able to look in another direction, and not 
show the least interest in what the pen was writing. 
A gentleman, who was present at the time, asked the 
ghost its name, when it wrote in reply, " Maggie 
Fisher," and stated that she had gone to the red 
school-house on the hill, in Upper Stewiacke, before 
Miss Cox did but left when she went. Miss Cox 
did not know this Maggie Fisher, but it seems that 
at one time she did attend the school indicated, and 
that a girl of that name, now dead, had attended 
previously. Monday night, Miss Cox was again 
attacked and held under the power of the ghost, 
much the same as the night previous. A represen- 
tative of the Despatch called on Esther Cox yester- 
day afternoon, but, she not being under the power, 
of course, no manifestations could be seen. The 
lady appeared quite pleasant and affable, and 
looked well. She considers her trouble to be a 
ghost, and is more perplexed with it than any one 
else. She says she cannot tell, by any premonitory 
symptoms, when the manifestations are going to 
commence, is becoming rather frightened con- 
cerning it and is very easily annoyed and excited 
by any noise, except that which she herself may 
cause. If the ghost is willing, Miss Cox will leave 
for Chatham, by train to-day. 

[From The Daily Times, M one ton, June 19, 1879.] 
Esther Cox left Moncton, for Chatham, yesterday 
at noon. She has been in town since Friday last, 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 95 

and has been in very poor health most of the time. 

The Halifax Presbyterian Witness, we notice, 
speaks out strongly against Esther Cox, in travel- 
ing on exhibition, saying : " The Amherst Mystery, 
we are informed on the best authority, is no mys- 
tery at all, except to persons who refrain from 
using their powers of observation and reason. The 
only mystery is that so many persons who should 
know better are deceived. The newspapers are 
greatly to blame for ' working up ' this pitiable sen- 
sation. The story is now going the rounds that 
the girl, Esther Cox, is to be taken around on 
exhibition. In the name of humanity, propriety, 
religion and decency, we earnestly protest against 
a proceeding so base and disgusting. If the girl is 
sick, why should her infirmities be exhibited to the 
public ? If, on the other hand, there is nothing to 
exhibit but very clumsy tricks of legerdemain, the 
exhibitors will at least appear before the public in a 
role not worthy of persons of character. 

We mention the case once more to protest against 
the wickedness of taking around a poor Nova Scotia 
girl as an object to be exhibited for so much 
money. The civil authorities ought to interfere." 

[From The Miramichi Advance, Chatham, New Brunswick, 
June 16, 1879.] 

Esther Cox, the " Amherst Mystery," is to ap- 
pear at Masonic Hall on Friday evening. The 
accounts given of the singular phenomena, of which 



g6 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

this girl is the medium, will, no doubt, attract 
many who have a curiosity in the direction of the 
marvellous. 



On arriving at Chatham, I secured a 
pleasant place to board and arranged 
with the landlady, Mrs. Carroll, to also 
take Esther and Mr. White when they 
arrived, which they did in due time. 
While Esther, Mr. White and myself 
were sitting in the parlor of Mrs. Carroll's 
boarding-house, in Chatham, the ghosts 
knocked on the table and promised to 
knock and move objects while we were on 
the stage in presence of an audience. It 
must be remembered that I only adver- 
tised to give a complete account of the 
manifestations that had occurred, not 
those that would or might occur, not 
knowing whether the ghosts would keep 
their promise or not. On the memorable 
night we appeared in Chatham, I spoke, 
as usual, for over an hour, and was deliv- 
ering my peroration when an old man 
arose in the audience and shook his cane 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. ()J 

at me. I did not pay much attention to 
what he said, but caught the words, 
" Young man, beware." I naturally 
thought him a crank, finished speaking, 
without allowing him to interrupt me, and 
then, thanking the people for their atten- 
tion, had Esther rise and bow her head just 
a trifle, and then smile as the janitor rang 
down the curtain. I had rehearsed her 
in all this, and always had her carry a large 
fan in her hand on the stage, so that she 
could hide her face, in case she should 
commence to giggle from hysteria, know- 
ing that persons who are not used to the 
stage are subject to fright, which has 
various forms of showing itself. 

After the curtain had been rung down, 
I heard loud talking in the auditorium, 
and presently Mr. White came behind 
the scenes to inform me that a ruffian had 
attempted to strike him. I asked him if 
he had our share of the receipts of the 
lecture, he replied in the affirmative, and 
gave me the money, which I put in my 
pocket, advising him to remain where he 



98 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

was until I had taken Esther to our 
boarding-house, which he did. 

On reaching the street I found a howl- 
ing mob waiting for us. Telling Esther to 
take a firm hold of my arm we started, 
followed by the mob, which threw stones 
and brick-bats at us, keeping up an angry, 
rumbling roar the while, as we walked to 
Mrs. Carroll's. I have often thought that 
it was simply marvellous that neither of us 
was struck by a single missile thrown by 
that mob, and wondered whether the 
ghosts guarded us through in safety on 
that eventful night. Poor Esther was 
entirely unnerved by the incident ; and 
Mr. White informed us that he would go 
no further, that if we continued our tour 
we should all, eventually, be slaughtered. 
He was determined to return to Amherst 
and take Esther home to her sisters, as 
she was under his fatherly care. Our 
friends in the town — and we only had a 
few, three I believe, one of them being 
Mr. John Malloy — advised us to leave 
that night, while we had. a chance, and we 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 99 

did, at midnight ; going at once to Am- 
herst. This closed the tour of the Great 
Amherst Mystery, on June 20th. Esther, 
Mr. White and I have always believed that 
the whirlwind of public opinion raised 
against us was started by the man who 
wanted her to travel with him. It was he 
whom we suspected of having incited the 
article that appeared in the Presbyterian 
Witness, of Halifax, and was copied in 
the Moncton Times of June 19th, that had 
been read in Chatham the day of our ap- 
pearance. " The civil authorities ought 
to interfere," it stated, but as they did 
not, mob-law handled our case in a sum- 
mary manner. 

On June 21st, 1879, at seven o'clock, 
while the sun was shining and a cool 
breeze blowing from the bay, Esther and 
I walked into the cottage of Daniel Teed 
again. She was in excellent physical 
health, but in a wretched state of mind, 
and told me afterwards that, but for my 
cheering influence, she would certainly 
have committed suicide. 



IOO THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Mr. White left us at the station and, 
finally, went into business again, but never 
had anything more to do with the " terri- 
ble power." I made arrangements to 
board with Mrs. Teed during the summer, 
and placing my umbrella in a corner of 
the dining-room and my satchel on the 
table, sat down in one of the easy chairs, 
only Esther and Mrs. Teed being in the 
room with me. I had been seated about 
five minutes when, to my great amaze- 
ment, my umbrella was thrown a distance 
of fifteen feet, passing over my head in its 
strange flight, and almost at the same in- 
stant a large carving knife came whizzing 
through the air, passing over Esther's 
head, who was just then coming out of 
the pantry with a large dish in both hands, 
and fell in front of her, near me, having 
come from behind her and out of the 
pantry. I naturally went to the door 
and looked in ; no person was there ; the 
power had burst forth again, and I imme- 
diately left the room, taking my satchel 
with me to the parlor, where I sat down, 






MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. l6l 

literally paralyzed with astonishment. I 
had only been seated a moment when 
my satchel was thrown across the room, 
and, at the same instant, a large chair 
came rushing from the opposite side of 
the room, striking the one on which I 
was seated with such tremendous force 
that it was nearly knocked from under 
me. Just think of it ; all while the sun 
was shining, the birds singing and the 
cool breeze blowing from the bay, early 
in the morning. I was a skeptic no 
longer, but was convinced that there is 
an invisible power within the atmosphere 
that men have, so far, failed to compre- 
hend, and that at last it had struck me 
like a cyclone. About this time I left the 
house for a short walk in the village, 
before breakfast. I felt that the walk 
would do me good. On my return, the 
power burst forth again, with redoubled 
violence. On entering the parlor, all the 
chairs fell over ; there were seven ■ — I 
counted them. I went into the dining- 
room and all the chairs fell over. Break- 



I02 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

fast being ready, Esther and I sat down 
alone, I having stood the chairs all up 
again. She handed me a cup of coffee, 
with this remark, " Oh, you will soon get 
used to them. I do not think they like 
you," with which latter expression of 
opinion I agreed. While at breakfast 
the ghosts hammered on the table, and 
answered numerous questions by knock- 
ing. While there I always used the 
method employed by the family in con- 
versing with them, which, as I have 
stated, was one knock for the negative, 
three for the affirmative, and two when in 
doubt. They were not spiritualists, how- 
ever, and knew nothing whatever of that 
ism. While living there I tried the 
experiment of holding a so-called " spirit- 
ual seance " ; had a number of neighbors 
and the family come into a semi-darkened 
room and join hands, while they sat in a 
circle and sang " Rock of Ages," and 
other hymns ; it disgusted the ghosts ; 
their power stopped ; there were no 
knocks at all, and not a single object was 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE 103 

moved or thrown. Bear in mind that I 
never ceased to watch Esther Cox, and 
every other person in the house, to see if 
they ever threw articles, or made knocks 
in any way ; and I assert, now and for- 
ever, that I never detected them in the 
slightest deception of any kind. Her 
family would also watch her, not that 
they suspected her of trickery, but be- 
cause the manifestations of the ghosts 
were too marvellous for the human mind 
to realize, and nature continued to assert 
her instinctive privilege. Chairs contin- 
ued to fall over until dinner-time, when 
there was a slight cessation of manifesta- 
tions. 

After dinner I lay down upon the sofa 
in the parlor; Esther was in the room 
seated near the center in a rocking-chair. 
I did not sleep, but lay with my eyes only 
partially closed so that I could see her. 
While lying there a large glass paper- 
weight, weighing fully a pound, came 
whizzing through the air from a corner 
of the room, where I had previously 



104 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

noticed it on an ornamental shelf, a dis- 
tance of some twelve or fifteen feet from 
the sofa. Most fortunately for me instead 
of striking my head — for my head was 
toward that corner — as was the evident 
intention of the ghost who threw it, it 
struck the arm of the sofa about three 
inches from my head, and rebounding to 
a chair that stood within a foot of the 
arm of the sofa on which my head rested, 
spun around on the seat of the chair for 
fully one quarter of a minute, so terrible 
was the force employed to throw it, and 
it afterwards remained on the seat of 
the chair. To say I was awed by this 
fearful demonstration of the power of the 
ghosts would indeed seem an inadequate 
expression of my feelings at that moment. 
I felt that I had escaped a most unnatural 
death, and was heartily thankful that I 
had been so fortunate. Truly, in this 
haunted house murder lurked within the 
atmosphere. I took the paper-weight 
from off the chair, hastily, and requested 
Mrs. Teed to kindly lock it up somewhere, 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 105 

which she did. All my powers of obser- 
vation were now thoroughly aroused, and I 
felt ea^er to witness more manifestations, 
and requested Esther to remain in the 
room, which she did. Reseating herself 
again in the rocking-chair, from which she 
had arisen, she took little George in her lap, 
for he had just entered the room, and as 
he sat there she sang to him a well-known 
Wesleyan hymn. She had a sweet, low 
voice, and while she sat there singing 
and rocking, the child's copper-toed shoe 
was taken from his foot and thrown at 
me, where I sat writing at a table near 
the stand containing Jennie's beautiful 
flowers, which were always in front of the 
bay-window. 

The shoe missed me, and I put it on 
the little fellow's foot again and had 
resumed my writing, when it was again 
thrown at me, this time striking me on 
the head, just above and back of my 
right ear ; so great was the force of the 
blow that the spot was sore to the touch 
for three or four days. The balance of 



106 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the day passed quietly away. Night 
came and wrapped the haunted house, of 
which I had heard so much, in her 
sombre mantle, and within whose walls 
my first day's experience was so weird 
that its memory can never be effaced. I 
awoke on the beautiful Sabbath morning 
of June 2 2d, greatly refreshed by my 
night's rest, and was informed by the 
entire family that the ghosts never did 
much in manifesting their power on 
that day ; for which I was not sorry, hav- 
ing had such an unheard-of experience 
on the day of my arrival that I needed 
rest. What with our most providen- 
tial escape from the infuriated mob in 
Chatham, and the doubly powerful mani- 
festations of the ghosts on Saturday, 
both Esther and myself were thankful for 
an opportunity to sit perfectly still and 
read, free from the annoyance of flying 
objects, in the air, for which we had 
to be always on the alert. After so much 
terrible excitement the calm of that 
peaceful Sabbath made a great impres- 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 107 

sion on me. There were no ghosts in 
the house on that day, or if there were 
we did not know it. Why the ghosts did 
not manifest as much on Sunday as on 
other days, is a question I have asked in 
vain of all who saw their demoniacal 
doings during the week. Personally, I 
never could ascertain the reason, or assign 
one that was in accordance with the facts 
of the case. 

On Monday, June the 23d, they com- 
menced again with great violence. At 
breakfast the lid of the stone china sugar- 
bowl was heard to fall on the floor. Mrs. 
Teed, Esther and myself searched for it 
in every direction for fully five minutes, 
and had abandoned our search as useless, 
when all three saw it fall from tne ceiling. 
I saw it, just before it fell, and it was at 
the moment suspended in the air about 
one foot from the ceiling. No one was 
within five feet of it at the time. The 
table knives were then thrown upon the 
floor, the chairs pitched over, and after 
breakfast the dining-table fell over on its 



108 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

side, rugs upon the floor were slid about, 
and the whole room literally turned into a 
pandemonium, so filled with dust that I 
went into the parlor. Just as I got inside 
the parlor door, a large flower-pot, con- 
taining a plant in full bloom, was taken 
from among Jennie's flowers on the stand 
near the window ; and in a second, a tin 
pail with a handle was brought half filled 
with water from the kitchen and placed 
beside the plant on the floor, both in the 
center of the parlor, and put there by a 
ghost ; just think of such a thing happen- 
ing while the sun was shining, and only a 
few minutes before I had seen this same 
tin pail from the dining-room, hanging 
on a nail in the kitchen, empty. And 
yet people say, and thousands believe 
that there are no haunted houses. What 
a great mistake they make in so asserting ; 
but then they never lived in a genuine 
one, where there was an invisible power 
that had full and complete sway. By all the 
demons ! When I read the accounts now 
in my journal, from which my experience is 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. IO9 

copied, I am almost speechless with won- 
der that I ever lived to behold such sights. 
During the day a large empty inkstand 
and two empty bottles were thrown at 
me, they had been taken by the ghosts 
from a closet. 

While lying on the sofa, in the parlor 
in the afternoon, several needles were 
taken from the knitting in Esther's hands 
and thrown at me. A piece of cake little 
George was eating was snatched by a 
ghost, from his hand, and thrown at me 
three times in succession ; dear little fellow, 
he cried bitterly about it. The ghosts then 
undressed him by tearing his clothes off, 
after unbottoning them, at which rough 
treatment he cried again. I believe he 
could, at times, see them ; for on more than 
one occasion I observed that he acted, as if 
strangers were present whom he feared. 
On this same day, Esther's face was 
slapped by the ghosts, so that the marks 
of fingers could be plainly seen just 
exactly as if a human hand had slapped 
her face ; these slaps could be plainly 



IIO THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

heard by all present. I heard them 
distinctly, time and again. 

Late in the afternoon the ghosts set 
some old newspapers on fire upstairs ; 
and then, as if to wind up the tortures of 
the day with a climax, they piled the 
seven chairs in the parlor on top of each 
other, making a pile fully six feei in 
height, when, pulling out one or two, 
near the bottom, they allowed the rest to 
fall to the floor with a terrific crash. The 
last manifestation of the day was startling ; 
they kindled a large fire upstairs, which 
created some excitement. The burning 
papers and fire upstairs were extinguished, 
however, without any serious damage 
being done to the house or furniture. 

This was my first experience with Bob, 
the demon, as a fire-fiend ; and I say, 
candidly, that until I had had that 
experience, I never fully realized what an 
awful calamity it was to have an invisible 
monster, somewhere within the atmos- 
phere, going from place to place about 
the house, gathering up old newspapers, 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. Ill 

rags, clothing, and in fact all kinds of 
combustible material, and after rolling 
it up into a bundle and hiding it in the 
basket of soiled linen or in a closet, then 
go and steal matches out of the match- 
box in the kitchen or somebody's pocket, 
as he did out of mine, and after kindling 
a fire in the bundle, tell Esther that he 
had started a fire, but would not tell 
where ; or, perhaps not tell her at all, in 
which case, the first intimation we would 
have was the smell of the smoke, pouring 
through the house, and then the most 
intense excitement ; everybody running 
with buckets of water. I say, it was the 
most truly awful calamity that could pos- 
sibly befall any family, infidel or Christian, 
that could be conceived in the mind of 
man or ghost. 

And how much more terrible did it 
seem in this little cottage, where all were 
strict members of church, prayed, sang 
hymns and read the Bible. Poor Mrs. 
Teed ! God only, could possibly have 
known the awful, silent agony wrung 



112 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

from her suffering heart. She feared for 
her children's lives, her household furni- 
ture, her home ; and yet she loved, 
almost with a mother's love, her demon- 
ized and most unhappy sister, and would 
not, nay could not, drive her from her 
last refuge. Many a time have I heard 
Mrs. Teed say, while the scalding tears 
ran down her cheeks, that she believed 
some day all would be well again — 
" That God was stronger than the devil." 
On Tuesday, June 24th, I was anxious 
to ascertain if the ghosts would cause 
the lid of the stone-china sugar-bowl to 
disappear as they had the day before, 
and, at breakfast I placed it, with the lid 
on, to the right of my plate. Esther and 
I nearly always breakfasted together. As 
I have stated, the Teed family, all having 
to go to work early, took breakfast at six 
o'clock. I generally arose about eight 
o'clock, when Esther would prepare the 
meal, and then, if she had not already 
taken hers with the others, a rare occur- 
rence, she would breakfast with me. 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. I 1 3 

When I placed the sugar-bowl to the 
right of my plate she was sitting directly 
opposite me, Mrs. Teed, the only other 
person in the cottage, being at work 
in the kitchen. I removed the lid and 
placed it on the table beside my cup 
of coffee, put sugar in the coffee, and had 
almost put my hand on the lid to put it 
on the sugar-bowl, to keep the flies out, 
when it disappeared — literally, melted 
into the air. I at once called Esther's 
attention to the fact, and informed Mrs. 
Teed that the lid had gone again. Both 
she and Esther searched the room in 
vain for about eight minutes, I, mean- 
while, remaining at the table. Finally, 
Mrs. Teed returned to her work in the 
kitchen and Esther went toward the 
pantry. I watched her closely at the 
time, when to my great surprise, just as 
she had laid her hand upon the pantry 
door to open it, the lid came from inside 
the pantry, being pushed through a 
broken pane of glass over the pantry 
door, and over which brown paper had 



114 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

been pasted, and fell from that broken 
pane to the floor, a distance of fully 
fifteen feet from the place on the table 
whence it had been taken from beside my 
plate. The pantry door had not been 
open while I was in the room, and yet 
the ghosts had carried the lid inside while 
the door was closed, and then pushed it 
through the broken pane, in the transom, 
above the door just as I have stated. 

During my residence in the house it 
was an almost daily occurrence for the 
ghosts to bring articles from trunks and 
closets that we all knew were locked, and 
to also place articles they carried from 
various parts of the house into these 
same trunks and closets while locked, 
where we afterwards found them. 

During breakfast the ghosts knocked 
upon the table and produced a perfect 
imitation of whatever sounds I called for, 
which were drumming, sawing wood, rub- 
bing wet linen garments on a wash-board; 
and they also knocked correct time 
on the bottom of the table while I 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. II5 

whistled several popular airs. After 
breakfast several knives were thrown at 
me, but, as usual, I dodged them. 

In the forenoon, while dinner was cook- 
ing, the ghosts placed a large red earth- 
enware crock, half full of salt, that was 
always kept standing in the kitchen cup- 
board, upon the dining-table. The tea- 
kettle was at the time boiling on the 
kitchen stove and a beefsteak frying in an 
iron pan, having a handle about ten inches 
long. Both the boiling kettle and pan 
with the frying steak were taken by the 
invisible power, the ghosts, from the stove 
and placed side by side out in the yard, 
on a large flat stone step before the 
kitchen door. This occurred while Mrs. 
Teed was in the kitchen, Esther being 
near her, and while Daniel Teed was 
washing his hands at the small washstand 
kept in the kitchen for that purpose, and 
while I stood in the doorway leading from 
the dining-room to the kitchen, talking to 
him. All saw it. The day was clear, 
and the time nearly twelve o'clock. The 



Il6 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

ghosts then threw two knives at me. I 
asked their names, and was informed by 
knocks that conveyed information to the 
effect that they were ghosts. Just after 
the dishes had been removed by Esther 
and Mrs. Teed, when dinner was over, 
the dining-table was turned completely 
upside down, right before our eyes, by the 
ghosts, and remained in that position until 
I had placed it on its feet again, when the 
ghosts set a bundle of rags on fire in the 
pantry. In the afternoon, while I was in 
the parlor, the ghosts knocked upon the 
walls and floor while I carried on a sym- 
bolic conversation with them by the sys- 
tem already used by the family when I 
went there to board. And the names 
given by the ghosts on this occasion, as 
on all previous and future occasions, were 
the same. I put on paper each name, 
and whatever else they said ; and the 
written matter upon the paper, when read 
afterwards, conveyed the following infor- 
mation : "Maggie Fisher, died aged 21 
years ; had been dead 1 2 years ; said ' she 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. l\J 

was in hell,' and that ' her sister, Mary 
Fisher, was in the house with her yester- 
day,' who had been dead 3 years and was 
19 years old when she died." 

Later in the afternoon all the ghosts 
gave me their names by knocking, and I 
ascertained that the leader of them was 
" Bob Nickle." I am positive that a more 
demoniacal ghost or scheming scoundrel 
never haunted any house or tortured any 
human being as did this fire-fiend and 
terror of the household. He stated that 
he was sixty years old, and when living 
on the earth had been a shoemaker. He 
pounded under the bay-window and on 
the floor of the room as if he had a black- 
smith's hammer weighing fifty pounds to 
make the knocks with. I never heard 
anything like the sounds in my life, and 
in all probability never shall again. 
Maggie Fisher and her sister Mary, whose 
names had already been given, came. 
The other ghosts stated that their names 
were Peter Cox, Jane Nickle and Eliza 
McNeal, and that they had all lived on 



I l8 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the earth. Esther sat in the parlor, after 
this conversation with the ghosts, writing 
a letter to her sister, Mrs. Snowden, when 
she was compelled to write the following 
by Bob Nickle, the demon, who took ab- 
solute possession of her hand and arm, 
and wrote in the letter to her sister, " Go 

out of Amherst, you b ! G — d 

your sole to hell !" And a moment after- 
wards he wrote, in the same way, while 
still in possession of her hand and arm, 

" G — d Hubbell's sole to hell, and 

yours !" All this was written by a power 
— the ghost — guiding her hand against 
her will, and was entirely different in ap- 
pearance from her handwriting in the 
letter — which had to be destroyed — and 
could no more be prevented than we 
could prevent these demons from kind- 
ling fires, knocking or throwing things 
about the house. I then asked if any of 
them were in heaven. They answered 
" No," by knocks. " Are you all in hell ?" 
I asked, and they replied, in the same 
way, " Yes." " Have you seen the devil ?" 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. lie) 

u Yes," they replied, with the loudest kind 
of sledge-hammer blows upon the floor. 

They had cursed me and cursed poor 
Esther in a way about which there could 
be no mistake. I was furious, and cursed 
them in return, commanding them to go 
back to hell and cease tormenting Esther 
and the family. They stopped knocking, 
and while I sat writing at the table threw 
my bottle of ink upon the floor and spilled 
its contents on the carpet. Afterwards 
all was quiet for a while ; when, noticing 
the gray and white family cat in the room, 
I remarked it was singular they never 
harmed her. She was instantly lifted 
from the floor to a height of five feet into 
the air, and then dropped on Esther's 
back, whence she rolled to the floor. I 
never saw any cat more frightened than 
this cat was at that moment ; she ran out 
into the front yard, where she remained 
the balance of the day, and for several 
days afterwards would come to the front 
or kitchen door and peep in, finally ven- 
turing into the house again, but seemed 



I20 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

always on the lookout for the ghosts. In 
all probability she saw them sometimes ; 
for on several occasions I noticed that the 
hair on her tail and back would stand" 
erect, when with a frightened stare into 
the air, she would leave the house in a 
hurry. During the night the ghost, Bob 
Nickle, was in the bedroom of Esther and 
Jennie Cox while they were in bed, they 
stated, and pulled both of them out of 
bed, tore their night-gowns, stuck and 
scratched them with pins and knocked 
upon the wall and floor with those sledge- 
hammer blows I have already mentioned. 
Their room bein^ next to mine, I heard 
the knocking, but of course did not enter 
the room. Nothing could be done to 
prevent it, and Esther, their victim, feared 
to room alone. Remember, I have sworn 
to all I saw and heard while in this haunt- 
ed house. Mrs. Teed and Esther Cox can 
corroborate all my statements ; for one 
or both were always in- the house with 
me ; I was never alone ; and after their 
daily work was done, Jennie Cox and 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 121 

Daniel Teed were generally with us, and 
very often there were visitors present 
whose names I have occasionally men- 
tioned in this narrative. 

On Wednesday, June 25th, the ghosts 
threw knives and other articles about the 
house and at us all. Since I had cursed 
them in the strongest kind of language, 
they were rather reserved in their actions 
toward us ; but I supposed they would 
break out again, and they did. They set 
fire to the window-curtain in the pantry 
and stuck pins into all parts of Esther's 
person. They moved the trap-door which 
opened into the loft under the roof, and 
we, fearing the demon, Bob, would start 
a fire, kept water in readiness all day. 
Esther and I walked into the parlor in the 
afternoon ; and just after we had gone 
about two feet from the door toward the 
flower-stand, we both saw, at the same 
instant, a chair thrown over ; and while 
we were looking at it, it was placed on its 
feet again. Esther informed me that 
Maggie, the ghost, talked with her during 



122 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

the day ; but I could neither hear nor see 
the ghost, although I had Esther point 
out the exact spot on the floor where, 
she said, Maggie stood, and listened for 
the faintest whisper. 

On Thursday, June 26th, Jennie and 
Esther told me that last night, Bob, the 
demon, was again in their room. They 
stated he had stuck them with pins and 
marked them from head to foot with 
crosses. I saw some of the crosses, which 
were bloody marks, scratched upon their 
hands, necks and arms. It was a sad 
sight. During the entire day I was kept 
busy pulling pins out of Esther ; they 
came out of the air from all quarters, and 
were stuck into all the exposed portions 
of her person, even her head, and inside 
of her ears. Maggie, the ghost, took 
quite an interest in me, and came into my 
room at night, while the lamp was burn- 
ing, and knocked on the headboard of my 
bed and on the wall near the bed, which 
was not next to the room occupied by the 
girls, but an outside wall facing the stable. 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 12^ 

I carried on a most interesting conversa- 
tion with her, asking a great many ques- 
tions which were answered by knocks. 

On Friday, June 27th, the knocks com- 
menced in my room in the morning before 
I was up. I began to think the ghosts 
would follow me when I left the house. At 
breakfast, the same sugar-bowl lid disap- 
peared at eight o'clock, and in fifteen 
minutes fell from under the dining-room 
sofa. This was the third time it had dis- 
appeared and returned in as mysterious a 
manner. 

A trumpet was heard in the house all day. 
The sound came from within the atmos- 
phere — I can give no other description of 
its effect on our sense of hearing. It 
was evidently a small trumpet, judging 
by its tone, and was at times very close 
to the ears of all. I asked who was 
blowing it, and was told, Bob. I re- 
quested him to let it fall in the room, and 
he said he would do so. That night he 
let the trumpet fall, I picked it up, and 
still have it in my possession. It is com- 



124 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

posed of metal — either lead or pewter — 
amd is about three inches long. I could 
never ascertain where he obtained it, nor 
could I find an owner for it, nor one like 
it in any of the Amherst stores. He 
must have stolen it somewhere, for he 
and Maggie were both continually steal- 
ing small articles, and after keeping them 
for days and sometimes for weeks, would 
suddenly let them fall, out of the air, upon 
the floor. This we all saw, time after 
time. On Saturday, June 28th, I wrote a 
letter to Mr. Lewis Baker, the actor ; and 
while writing it, my bottle of ink was 
taken from the table and placed on 
top of the chimney of a coal-oil lamp stand- 
ing on the table in front of me. I reached 
forward and placed the ink again upon 
the table, when the letter disappeared, 
and after a long search was found in the 
Bible, which was also on the table. Mr. 
Baker was at the time in Halifax, and 
being about to return to New York, I 
suggested that he pass through Amherst 
on his way home and witness the wonders 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENXE. I 25 

for himself. I mailed the letter, but, un- 
fortunately, he never received it. 

One of the ghosts struck me with a 
screw-driver and several other articles 
during the day. I tried the experiment 
of having Esther fix her mind on an ob- 
ject and then will it to move. I chose 
each object myself ; but it was useless. 
The object her mind was fixed on would 
remain stationary, and something else 
would be moved that she had not even 
thought of, very often being brought from 
another room, where I knew it had been 
a few minutes before, and dropped at our 
feet out of the air. It is hardly necessary 
to give a detailed account of the manifes- 
tations of the ghosts day after day, as 
they occurred. It would require too 
much reiteration and become wearisome. 
I am fully aware that my statements are 
too extraordinary to be trifled with in that 
way. 

The Amherst Gazette of June 27th, 
1879, said: "The case has lately been 
watched bv Mr. Walter Hubbell, who has 



126 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

determined to spend some time in its in- 
vestigation." 

One evening Dr. Carritte called, and 
our conversation naturally turned to 
Esther's case, when he informed me that 
on one occasion he had given her one 
ounce of bromide of potassium, one pint 
of brandy and heavy doses of morphia 
and laudanum on the same night, without 
the slightest effect on her system. This, 
of course, was when he tried to stop the 
working of the power by quieting her 
nerves. Afterwards, he stated, on this 
same evening, that all medicine was 
neutralized by the ghosts, he now know- 
ing what caused the manifestations, and 
made her seem ill when she was not so 
in reality — only demonized. 

One evening I sat in the parlor with 
Esther and Jennie, while the ghosts 
brought small articles into the room from 
all parts of the house, among them being 
a fresh egg from the kitchen, a shaving 
brush from Daniel's room, two spools of 
cotton from Mrs. Teed's work-basket in 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. \2J 

the sewing-room, and a large number of 
hair-pins from the girls' room. We knew 
that all these articles were in the rooms 
mentioned before being brought by the 
ghosts to the parlor. I tried a very 
interesting experiment on another occa- 
sion. While Esther and I were alone in 
the parlor, I requested her to place both 
hands in mine. She did so. " Now, " I said, 
14 Esther, look me squarely in the eyes," 
which she did, when I could distinctly 
feel a power like a current of electricity 
from a battery passing through my arms. 

After sitting thus for some fifteen 
minutes, I asked how she felt ? 

And she replied, " all right." 

"Do you feel sleepy ?" I asked. 

"No !" she replied. 

I was becoming so weak that I let go 
her hands ; and at ten o'clock, it being 
nearly that time when I began to feel 
weak, I was nearly asleep on my chair. 

Rousing myself I bade her a hasty 
good night, retired to my room, went 
immediately to bed and slept for twelve 



128 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

hours; an unusual occurence, seven hours 
being all I have ever required. I never 
held her hands aofain ; once was enough. 
One afternoon, while Esther was out 
walking, she called on the Rev. R. A. 
Temple, and during the visit he prayed 
with her, advised her to pray for herself, 
and to sleep with a small Bible under her 
head. Before going out on this occasion, 
Esther had copied the third verse of the 
second chapter of Habakkuk on slips of 
paper, as directed by Mr. Alexander 
Hamilton in a letter to Mr. Teed. The 
special object in having her out on this 
occasion being to have all the ghosts out 
with her, while Mrs. Teed pasted the slips 
over all the doors and windows, which 
was intended to prevent the demons ever 
coming in again. I never knew whether 
the demons stayed in the house and did 
not go out with Esther, or whether the 
verse was powerless ; but I do know, that 
one of the demons cut a triangular gash 
in her forehead with an old beefsteak 
bone from the yard that day, and that 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. I 2Q. 

they tried twice to cut her throat with a 
carving knife ; and in the afternoon 
Maggie, the ghost, tried to stab her in 
the neck with a pair of shears, and that 
she was stabbed in the head with a 
fork. Think of it ! A young woman 
treated with such brutality and no one be 
able to rescue her. It was very hard, but 
we all had to bear it. 

On the same night, after such brutal 
treatment, she went into what her sisters 
told me was a trance. I saw her. She 
lay on her back perfectly rigid and with 
eyes set like a dying woman ; sang hymns, 
and said she was talking with her mother 
in heaven, while the family stood weeping 
at her bedside. She, also said, she saw 
many persons who had formerly lived in 
Amherst, and gave their names correctly, 
the family stated ; also, described the 
appearance of several who had died 
before she lived in the village, and were, 
of course, unknown to her. I asked her 
if she saw any of my dead friends, in 
heaven, and she replied in the negative. 



I3O THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

This all occurred while the Bible was 
under her head. 

One afternoon, Mrs. Teed, Esther and 
myself witnessed a remarkable manifes- 
tation of the power of the ghosts to take 
objects from our world to theirs and 
afterwards return them. The instance 
to which I refer was so marked, that I 
will give the entire details. I heard 
Esther and Mrs. Teed talking in an 
undertone, while we all three were in the 
parlor, and asked them what was the 
matter. Esther then informed me, after 
much hesitancy and blushing, that Maggie, 
the ghost, had taken a pair of black and 
white striped stockings belonging to her, 
from her bureau drawer and put them on. 
I was astonished beyond expression at 
such information, and asked Esther how 
she knew it was the truth. She informed 
us that Maggie Fisher, the ghost, had 
raised the wrapper she wore, as far up as 
her knees, and that she had then seen 
them on her legs. Remember we were 
all three in the parlor, the time was two 






MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE.. I 3 I 

o'clock and the day was clear. I com- 
manded Maggie, who of course, was not 
visible to me, to take Esther's stockings 
off instantly, adding that it was an infa- 
mous thing to do. She evidently heard 
and understood me, poor ghost, for in 
about a minute, a pair of black and white 
striped stockings fell out of the air, and 
lay upon the floor before our eyes. Es- 
ther informed us that they were the same 
Maggie, the ghost, had had on and were 
hers ; in which latter statement she was 
corroborated by Mrs Teed and Jennie. 
I could relate instances of similar mani- 
festations, but think this one will suffice. 

On several occasions, Bob, the demon, 
tormented Esther so at night that it was 
with difficulty she could remain in bed, 
I shall never forget being called up once 
by Daniel Teed at midnight, so that I 
could see for myself what I had hereto- 
fore only heard about. I dressed and 
went at once into Jennie and Esther's 
room, where the family was assembled. 
There, upon the bed, lay the poor 



I32 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

unhappy girl, fearfully swollen, and mov- 
ing about the bed as if Beelzebub himself 
were in her. It was a fearful sight. Be- 
tween her gasps for breath, she exclaimed, 
in agonizing sobs, 

" Oh, God ! I wish I were dead ! I 
wish I were dead !" 

I never imagined it could be as bad as 
that, and was astounded. I suggested 
that Daniel and I could hold her still. 
We tried ; but the effort was useless ; 
one demon was stronger than our com- 
bined strength. I asked Mrs. Teed and 
Jennie what had been done to prevent 
such a horrible manifestation of the 
power of a ghost over their sister. They 
replied, "everything; that medicine had 
no more effect on her than water." We 
all remained with her for about three 
hours, when she sank from sheer physical 
exhaustion into a lethargic state. 

While I was there, Esther suffered 
several such attacks of the demon, and on 
one occasion, I remember, was seen by 
Mr. G. G. Bird, Mr. James P. Dunlap, 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 1 33 

Mr. Amos Purdy, and several ladies ; 
and, on another, by Dr. E. D. McLean, 
the dentist, Mr. Fowler, and Mr. Sleep. 

Once I wanted a match to light my 
pipe, and it occurred to me to ask the 
ghosts, who always seemed to have an 
abundance of them, to orive me some. 

" Bob, I would like a few matches, if 
you please," I said. 

Instantly matches fell from the air, 
near the ceiling. After that, I was liter- 
ally showered with matches; the ghost, 
Maggie, gave me forty-five, during one 
day, and on another occasion, forty-nine. 

I wish to state, most emphatically, that 
I could tell the difference in the knocks 
made by each ghost just as well as if 
they had spoken. The knocks made by 
Maggie were delicate and soft in sound, 
as if made by a woman's hand, while 
those made by Bob Nickle were loud and 
strong, denoting great strength and evi- 
dently large hands. When he knocked 
with those terrible sledge-hammer blows 
he certainly must have used a large rock or 



134 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

some other heavy object, for such loud 
knocks were not produced with bare 
knuckles. Of course, this is merely con- 
jectural, but why may it not be true ? We 
knew they carried articles of all kinds 
into their state of existence, and why not 
believe they knocked upon the floor and 
walls with objects from the earth, when 
the sounds denoted they had something 
very solid, and we knew they could have 
solid objects from our world. But I 
must leave theories to men whose lives 
have been devoted to science, and con- 
fine myself to the facts as I know them 
to have existed in this haunted house. 

During the latter part of July the 
ghosts became so powerfully demonstrative 
that it was no longer safe to have Esther, 
their victim, in the house. Fires were 
continually being started ; the walls were 
hourly broken with household furniture ; 
the bed-clothes were pulled off in the day- 
time ; sofas and tables were continually 
turned upside down ; knives and forks 
thrown with such force that they would 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 1 35 

stick into doors ; food disappeared from the 
table, and, worse than all, strange, unnat- 
ural voices could be heard in the air, call- 
ing us by our names, in the broad light of 
day. This was too much. If the ghosts 
continued to gain in power they would 
eventually drive us from the house 
and take possession of everything ; for 
there were six of them and only five of 
us, and one ghost had proved himself 
stronger than two men. Daniel Teed 
and his wife, Jennie, Esther, and myself — 
not, of course, counting the two children — 
were all who were left, William Cox and 
John Teed having fled before Esther 
went to St. John — literally, driven away 
by the ghosts. 

One day, Mr. Bliss, the owner of the 
cottage, called while I was in, and informed 
Mrs. Teed that, unless Esther Cox left at 
once and took the strange power, that 
worked like the very old devil, with her, 
the family would have to move, as he would 
no longer run the risk of having his house 
set on fire and burned to the ground. 



I36 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Everything that could be done to save 
the poor girl from the ghosts had been 
tried in vain — medicine, prayers, reading 
the Bible, and even cursing them, as 1 
had done, proved of no more effect than 
so many empty words uttered by mad- 
men at the moon. There was but one 
last resort. She must go. Poor, unhappy 
Esther heard the landlord's stern, though 
just, decision in silence. She had borne 
so much with Christian patience and un- 
heard of fortitude, that now she was ready 
for almost any fate. It was her firm belief 
that some day the demon, Bob, would mur- 
der her ; and she was possessed with the 
idea that the time would soon come when 
he would have sufficient power. 

We talked the matter over ; and, know- 
ing that she was always welcome at Mr. 
Van Amburgh's farm, she decided to go 
there, and at once. So, the next morn- 
ing, after packing all her worldly posses- 
sions in a large satchel, she kissed her 
little nephews and her dear sisters, Olive 
and Jennie, shook hands with Daniel and 



MY STRANGE EXPERIENCE. 1 37 

myself, and departed from the haunted 
house, where she had endured such 
torture, never to return. Poor Esther ! I 
shall never forget her. Such resignation. 
She was, indeed, a martyr. 

The next day after her departure, I 
walked over the house ; examined the 
broken walls, and bruised and battered 
furniture ; saw again the smoke-stained 
wood-work and the blistered paint ; re- 
examined the holes burned in the articles 
of clothing ; went again into the room 
where the awful power had first burst 
forth with such fearful violence, and there, 
yes, there upon the wall, I read once 
more that terrifying legend, 

"Esther Cox, you are mine to kill !" 

What would be the end ? I could not 
guess. 

I wondered if the ghosts were in the 
house. I thought a moment, and then — 

" Bob," asked I aloud, "are you here?" 

I asked again, and still no answer. 

" Maggie, come and knock upon the 
wall as you did yesterday." I listened. 



I38 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Not a knock was heard. 

" Give me some matches, Maggie, as 
you did the other day." 

I waited ; but not one came from out 
the air. I went down to the kitchen 
where Mrs. Teed was at work and asked 
her for a match. She gave me one. I 
thanked her, and then lit my pipe. She 
remarked that " the house seemed lonely 
without Esther." 

" Yes," I replied. 

" Mrs. Teed," I asked, "have you heard 
any knocking, to-day ?" 

" No," she answered. 

I smoked ; and when I looked at her 
again, the tears were flowing down her 
cheeks. We looked into each other's 
eyes ; and then, in silence, each knew the 
other thought the same. 

The ghosts had followed her. 



ESTHER COX. I 39 



ESTHER COX. 



Thy simple life of child-like homely ways, 
I hope is blest by happier, brighter days. 

The stage should be the platform for 
the expression of the most ennobling 
sentiments, and the closing pages of my 
narrative should, at least, convey some 
sentiment of the appreciation of the 
many courtesies received from friends. 
The inhabitants of Amherst, while I was 
living in the haunted house, without 
exception, treated me with the greatest 
kindness and consideration, for which I 
still feel grateful. I do not wish my 
readers to think that I remained in the 
house all day and night watching the 
phenomena produced by the ghosts ; on 
the contrary, I went out frequently to 
visit my numerous acquaintances. 

On one occasion I remember attending 



I40 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

a meeting of the Reform Club, where I was 
requested to speak on temperance Of 
course, I spoke ; and thanked God I was 
not a drunkard, but was never asked to 
speak again. On Sunday, I generally 
went to church with Jennie to hear 
Parson Townsend. I went only once to 
Rev. R. A. Temple's church with Esther, 
and on that occasion, Bob, the demon, 
who had followed her, created so much 
disturbance that we were compelled to 
leave. Every time the minister said 
anything about Satan or the Holy Ghost, 
this demon, Bob, would knock on the 
floor or the back of the pew, and, finally, 
he upset the kneeling-stool and com- 
menced to throw the hymn-books about. 
Esther became crimson with mortification ; 
the congregation was greatly disturbed ; 
the minister stopped his discourse and 
listened, and we left the church. Of 
course, I knew nothing about those mani- 
festations which occurred while I was out 
of the house, and so have made no 
allusion to them. Many strange things 






ESTHER COX. I4I 

happened that I did not consider worth 
recording in my journal. For instance, 
Daniel's red cow was milked night after 
night in a most mysterious manner, 
although she was locked in her stable, 
and a watch kept on several occasions. 

There was a band of Mic Mac Indians 
encamped about a mile from the cottage ; 
and as I had once visited the camp with 
Mr. Fenwick Armstrong, the actor, on 
which occasion, we had had a slight alterca- 
tion with the chief, who was drunk and 
armed with a tomahawk, while we had only 
sticks to keep the Indians' dogs off, I natur- 
ally suspected one of the tribe milked the 
cow, rather than believe it was done by 
the ghosts, as some persons supposed. I 
did not, however, suspect an Indian 
because I had had hot words with the 
chief, when endeavoring to study the 
manners and customs of his tribe — that 
would have been unjust ; but, because 
most of them were an idle, drunken set, 
and did not bear good reputations. 

To those who are curious on the 



142 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

subject, I must say that Esther could 
handle iron or steel with as much impu- 
nity as glass, and articles of metal were 
not in the least affected by contact with 
her, and that it was not necessary for her 
to be in the room where the manifesta- 
tions occurred. 

On August 1st, 1879, I saw Esther at 
Mr. Van Amburgh's farm ; she was then 
making a patchwork quilt, on which she 
stopped work every few minutes to play 
with the little children. 

She informed me that she read her 
Bible every day ; had not seen anything 
of the ghosts, and was consequently 
contented and happy. Before departing, 
I advised her to pray that she might 
never again be tormented by the demons. 
She promised to take my advice ; and I 
said, "good-by, Esther, be a good girl," 
and have never seen her since. 

On returning to Amherst in the after- 
noon, I met Mr. W. S. Harkins, who was 
managing a dramatic company, chiefly 
composed of the ladies and gentlemen I 






ESTHER COX. 1 43 

had been with in Halifax and Newfound- 
land, with the addition of Mr. Newton 
Beers and Mr. Joseph A. Kennedy, the 
latter since deceased. He offered me 
an engagement which I accepted, and 
left that night for St. John, New Bruns- 
wick, after taking a last farewell of Mr. 
Teed and family, in whose haunted house 
I had had such a remarkable experience. 

We opened in St. John, during the visit 
of the Princess Louise and the Marquis 
of Lome ; and it was in the theatre where 
we played that I had the pleasure of hear- 
ing, for the first time, the great Henry 
Ward Beecher, in his lecture on " The 
Common People." On Sunday, he 
preached an eloquent sermon, from our 
stage, to a "packed house." 

I visited the Insane Asylum at Carlton, 
near St. John, to ascertain if any per- 
sons were confined there who were fol- 
lowed by ghosts. The superintendent, 
Mr. Andrew M'Vey, informed me that he 
had several who so claimed. I asked him 
if the ghosts ever threw objects at them 



144 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

or knocked on the walls, etc., and he 
replied that the}- did not, that, on the 
contrary, his insane patients were contin- 
ually throwing objects at the ghosts. I 
then related my strange experience, to 
which he listened with great attention. 
When I had finished, he informed me that 
years before he had become superintend- 
ent, a woman, claiming to be a clairvoyant, 
had informed him that at some future day 
he would have charge of a number of 
diseased persons, confined in a large 
building having iron bars at all the win- 
dows, adding, " you see, she foretold the 
truth." 

" Yes," I replied, "but my experi- 
ence, with the supernatural, has taught 
me that there is a class of persons in the 
world whose minds are what I call 'human 
mirrors,' because they reflect not only the 
memories of others and, in that way, tell 
our past, but also reflect the innate ideas 
while still in embryo within our minds, 
which accounts for the fact of their being 
able to foretell the future, to a limited de- 



ESTHER COX. 1 45 

gree, simply because these embryonic 
ideas subsequently become the actions 
which shape our destiny, and then when 
we remember what clairvoyants have told 
us, we often find that what they had fore- 
told, has indeed come true ; their prophecy 
beine but a reflection of what was to be." 

He replied, that my argument seemed 
plausible, and that he hoped to live long 
enough to see science investigate the 
supernatural. And so do I. 

After playing some time in St. John, 
to fair business, the company disbanded 
and returned to New York ; I going 
to Boston by steamer, and thence to 
New York, where I was engaged by 
the manager of a Shakespearean com- 
pany ; opening in Albany, N. Y., as the 
Ghost in Hamlet, September 25th. I 
was so much impressed by my experience 
with the ghosts in the haunted house, 
that I could not believe a ghost on the 
stage should look as if he had just arisen 
from a mouldy sepulchre, and so discarded 
the earth-stained drapery furnished by mv 



I46 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

costumer, and had one made that looked 
like a vaporoits substance, to make me 
appear as if I was walking in a cloud 
while clad in armor. There was nothing 
to remind any one of the dampness and 
decay of the tomb about the ghosts in 
the haunted house, and why should 
there be upon the stage, where we are 
supposed to " hold the mirror up to 
nature.' 

I traveled over 13,000 miles with this 
company, and subsequently, while playing 
King Henry VI. in Richard III.; and 
Julius Caesar, I was particular to look 
and act as if I was alive, and had not 
arisen from some rotten coffin, when 
impersonating their ghosts. 

For months after I had left the haunted 
house, any sudden sound would make me 
start and listen ; but, when I had become 
positive that the demons had not followed 
me, I became myself again. And this was 
the only unpleasant impression left by 
my strange experience. After a time I 
became anxious to know if the " terrible 



ESTHER COX. 1 47 

power," as Mr. White called it, had 
" broken out again," and so wrote to Jennie 
Cox, Dr. Carritte, and Mr. and Mrs. 
Teed. The letters I received contained 
startling news. Dear little golden-haired 
George was dead. Mrs. Teed and I had 
guessed the truth ; the house was no 
longer haunted. The ghosts had fol- 
lowed Esther. Yes, followed her when 
she departed, and had been lurking 
within the atmosphere of Mr. Van Am- 
burgh's old farm-house in the woods, 
watching for an opportunity to burst 
forth again. It came at last. Esther 
used to visit some friends in Amherst, 
where there were little children, but 
always returned to the farm to sleep. 
One day, while visiting these friends, the 
demon, Bob Nickle, stole some clothing 
belonging to the children, and the articles 
were afterwards found secreted at the 
farm. Esther volunteered to return 
them, and had done so, and was just leav- 
ing the house for home when she went 
into the barn to see some person who 



I48 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

was there. She had started for the 
farm when it was discovered the barn 
was on fire. The fire could not be ex- 
tinguished ; and the barn and outbuildings 
were burned to the ground. Bob, the 
demon fire-fiend, had done it. Poor girl ! 
She was arrested as the incendiary, tried, 
convicted, and sentenced to four months 
in jail. That judge and jury did not 
believe in ghosts, and I was not there to 
explain. 

Her previous good character and virtu- 
ous life, and the knowledge of so many 
of the inhabitants as to the true nature of 
her trouble — ghosts — raised a whirlwind 
of public sentiment in her favor and after 
being confined one month, she was 
released. 

Jennie informed me, in 1882, that 
Esther was married and had a son, and 
that the ghosts had ceased to follow her. 
And so Mrs. Teed's prophecy had come 
true at last. She always said, " Some 
day all would be well," because she knew, 
" That God was stronger than the devil," 



RETROSPECTIVE. 1 49 



RETROSPECTIVE. 



Ten years have well-nigh passed, and yet I see 
The haunted house; hear ghosts in memory. 

Esther Cox was born March 28, i860, 
in Upper Stewaicke, Nova Scotia. When 
born, she was so small that her grand- 
mother, who raised her (her mother hav- 
ing died when she was three weeks old), 
had to wash and dress her on a pillow, 
and, in fact, keep her on one all the time, 
until she was nine months old, at which 
age her weight was only five pounds. 
When she was very young, her father, 
Archibald T. Cox, married again, and 
moved to East Machias, Maine, where he 
was living, in 1879, with his third wife. 
Esther was, at the time I knew her, mild 
and gentle in disposition. She could at 
at times, however, be very self-willed, and 
liked to have her own way when her 



I50 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

mind was set on anything. If asked to 
do something she did not feel inclined to 
do she would become sulky, and often 
had to be humored to keep peace in the 
family. 

She was a virtuous girl, and always 
bore a good reputation. Her appetite 
was excellent, and she seemed very par- 
tial to acids, having been known to drink 
vinegar by the cupful. 

While living in the house I made 
inquiry as to whether she had ever re- 
ceived a severe shock of any kind ; such 
as news of a sudden death, escape from 
instant destruction, or anything of a 
nature that would have been likely to 
affect her nervous system, and was told 
the following story, which was fully cor- 
roborated by herself. 

Daniel Teed, her brother-in-law, told 
me that late on the afternoon of August 
28, 1878, she went driving with a young 
man, who, for some time, had been pay- 
ing her much attention; and that, when 
rfe had driven her through Amherst, and 



RETROSPECTIVE. I$l 

then down the road leading to the marsh, 
with the ostensible purpose of going into 
the country, he drove toward a small 
grove. When they had reached the 
grove, the young man, whose name was 
Bob McNeal, dropped the reins, leaped 
from the buggy, and, drawing a large 
revolver from the side-pocket of his coat, 
pointed it at her heart and commanded 
her to get out of the buggy or else he 
would kill her where she sat. She was 
very much frightened, of course, but 
refused to leave the buggy, telling him to 
get in and drive her home, and not act 
like a madman. Her refusal to comply 
with his demand enraged him so, that he 
aimed at her heart again, uttering terrible 
oaths the while, and was about to fire 
when the sound of wheels was heard 
coming in their direction. It was now 
growing dark and raining. When he 
saw the wagon approaching, he instantly 
returned to the buggy and drove her 
toward home at a break-neck speed in the 
now pouring rain. On reaching the cot- 



I52 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

tage the girl's clothing was wet through 
to her body, and she was in an hysterical 
condition from excitement. 

This young man, Bob McNeal, was a 
shoemaker by trade, and rather a wild 
fellow. I never saw him ; only his 
picture. He was described as having 
black hair and eyes, and as wearing a 
black moustache, and, judging from his 
picture, was fine looking. I made in- 
quiry as to his history, and was informed 
that he had a very cruel disposition, and 
when a boy, had been known to skin cats 
alive, and allow them to run about and 
suffer in that condition until death came 
to their relief. Esther was fond of him, 
and always called him Bob, which, of 
course, was perfectly natural. 

When I heard that the chief ghost in 
the haunted house was known as Bob, 
I naturally thought it highly probable 
that the astral body of the young man, 
Bob McNeal, had been tormenting the 
girl. Those versed in psychical knowl- 
edge will understand what I mean. But, 



RETROSPECTIVE. 1 53 

upon obtaining a complete description of 
Bob Nickle, the demon, who was described 
by Esther, who could see him, "as a very 
rough and brutal-looking ghost, appar- 
ently about sixty years of age, wearing a 
scraggy, gray beard, and dressed like any 
common-looking, dirty tramp," I con- 
cluded that such was not the case. 

The night I held Esther's hands, and 
felt the electric current, or what I then 
supposed was an electric current, I was 
very much impressed with the discovery ; 
so, the next day, after having had my 
sleep of twelve hours, I evolved a theory. 
I reasoned that this power which came 
from her, surrounded her form as an 
invisible vapor and permeated the entire 
house and all in it, even our brains, and 
made us imagine we saw and heard all 
the marvels that only really existed in 
her distorted mind ; but when I after- 
wards re-examined the legend on the wall, 
and saw where the fires had been, and 
where the walls were broken, and had 
taken another look at the unhealed cuts 



154 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY^ 

and bruises on her head, arms and neck, I 
felt convinced that this theory was false, 
and that I was also mistaken about the 
powerful current flowing from her person 
through her arms into me. It was just 
the other way, for I was now positive that 
the vital magnetism from my person 
flowed into her and that was why I grew 
weak. She it was who was continually 
losing vital magnetism, and nature came 
to the assistance of her depleted power at 
my expense. This fact is to me established 
and corroborates my latest theory, which 
is as follows : 

I believe the true solution of this great 
mystery to be, that Bob McNeal, who 
had evidently intended to commit a name- 
less outrage upon Esther when he en- 
deavored to force her to get out of the 
buggy in the grove, was what is known 
among students of Demonology as 
an obsessed person — a person whose 
thoughts and actions are almost entirely 
governed by an evil ghost existing in that 
part of space where all the ghosts of the 



RETROSPECTIVE. I 5 5 

dead still exist in their astral bodies, re- 
taining there the same appearance and 
individuality they possessed while living 
on the earth. This evil ghost, Bob 
Nickle, could approach Bob McNeal, be- 
cause his (McNeal's) system generated 
and threw off sufficient vital magnetism 
to allow a ghost to control his thoughts, 
and of course his actions. This being the 
case it is plain to me that it was Bob 
Nickle, the ghost, who was really acting 
out the one desire of his devilish nature 
through the organism of the young man, 
Bob McNeal, while in the grove on the af- 
ternoon of that fatal ride; and that, through 
the terrible fright and wetting she re- 
ceived, Esther suffered a derangement of 
her entire system, which caused or al- 
lowed her vital magnetism to escape, and 
through this escapement she became a 
person subject to the government of the 
ghosts of the dead, just as Bob McNeal 
was, only more so, and it was then that 
the evil ghost, who had been governing 
him in an imperfect manner, left him and 



I56 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

gave his whole attention to the unfor- 
tunate Esther Cox, with what wonderful 
results this book of mine records. The 
fact that Bob McNeal became little more 
than a nonentity after Bob Nickle, the 
ghost, commenced to demonize Esther, 
is a strong point in favor of my hypoth- 
esis. Bob McNeal left Amherst, and 
was still living in 1879; I have already 
stated that he was a shoemaker. The 
ghost, Bob Nickle, claimed to have been 
a shoemaker, and would, at the request 
of Daniel Teed, go through all the sounds 
of making a shoe just as perfectly, Daniel 
informed me, as if an invisible shoemaker 
was at work in the room. I heard the 
sounds, but not being a judge of their 
naturalness simply accepted the word of 
honest Daniel as to that fact. 

Bob Nickle, the ghost, informed me, 
after much questioning, that the reason 
he and the other ghosts did not move 
objects and knock while I had Esther on 
the sta^e, was, that she had stage-fright, 
which made her lose the power through 



RETROSPECTIVE. 1 57 

which he and the others produced all 
they did in our earthly state of existence. 

On a subject so very vague and unsat- 
isfactory, as the supernatural, every man 
who has given the subject any attention 
must have some opinion, and as I have 
had a most extraordinary experience, so 
far, with ghosts, and demonology in all its 
phases, I deem it best to give my theory 
of the Great Amherst Mystery now and 
then let others advance theirs if they 
care to do so. 

It may interest some persons to know 
that Eliza McNeal, the ghost who com- 
municated on the afternoon I talked with 
all six of them, said she was the sister of 
Bob McNeal, the shoemaker, who had 
threatened to shoot Esther Cox. 

Peter Cox, the ghost, claimed relation- 
ship with Esther. Mrs. Daniel Teed 
informed me that there had been 
an old uncle in her family named 
Peter Cox, who had been dead a great 
many years. 

Jane Nickle, the ghost, was either the 



158 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

wife or sister of Bob Nickle, the demon 
from hell. 

Maggie Fisher, the ghost, was de- 
scribed by Esther as a very pleasant 
looking young woman, apparently about 
twenty years of age, generally dressed in 
a long loose wrapper made of some 
material not unlike calico, of a greyish 
violet color. She, Esther, informed us, 
would frequently hang by her hands and 
swing from the opening of the trap door 
leading to the loft, and often leaned out 
of the front windows and looked up and 
down Princess street. Maggie spoke 
Welsh as well as English. T ne other 

o 

ghosts where described by Esther as 
follows : 

Peter Cox, an old ghost with white hair 
and a smooth face, was short of stature 
and rather thin. He was very quiet and 
tried to prevent the others from break- 
ing objects they threw. 

Jane Nickle and Eliza McNeal were 
ordinary looking ghosts of uncertain 
ages. Their clothes were similar in ap- 



RETROSPECTIVE. 1 59 

pearance to women who work in the 
kitchens of Nova Scotia. 

Mary Fisher was not unlike her sister 
Maggie in appearance and dress. 

A description of Bob Nickle has been 
given. He was not very tall, and wore a 
hat. 

From what I saw and heard in the 
haunted house, I have been led to infer 
that the ghosts of the dead live in a world 
similar to ours, and that it is to them just 
as material as our world is to us ; that 
they are just as substantial to each other 
as we are, and that what is a solid sub- 
stance to us, is to them but a liquid or 
vapor, and that what to them is solid is to 
us but air. 

There are, evidently, two worlds exist- 
ing together in the same atmosphere, 
each as material and real as the other 
to its own inhabitants, whether ghosts 
or men ; and these assertions of mine, 
I believe, will yet be proved, and be 
as capable of demonstration as other 
facts in what is recognized as positive 






l6o THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

science — provided men of science live in 
haunted houses, as I did. The facts can 
never be substantiated by investigating 
" Modern Spiritualism." History records 
well-authenticated cases of haunted houses 
in which no persons could live with comfort 
on account of the annoyance from the 
ghosts who haunted them. In cases of this 
kind, there not being any person living in 
them from whose system the necessary 
vital magnetism could escape, to permeate 
the atmosphere, and render the contact of 
the inhabitants of the two worlds possible, 
is it not logical to assume that among the 
ghosts there are those from whose bodies 
the same kind of vital magnetism escapes, 
and permeating the atmosphere of the 
houses they choose to haunt, makes it 
possible for them to come in contact with 
us from their part of the atmosphere, and 
that that is why such houses are haunted ? 
It is my belief that some persons are born 
with such very sensitive organizations 
that they literally live in the world of 
ghosts and the world of men at the same 



RETROSPECTIVE. l6l 

time. I mean that the fact of their seeing 
and talking with the ghosts of the dead 
is not the result of an abnormal state of 
the system as it was with Esther Cox. 

I never saw any of the ghosts in the 
haunted house, but heard their voices 
distinctly many times, calling Esther, 
Olive, George and Hubbell, and heard 
them making the most thrilling and un- 
natural noises. Esther'Cox could see and 
hear them some times, and then described 
them as being in appearance like living 
shadows of men and women 

Little George, I believe, saw them at 
times, for on several occasions he would 
look and act as if strangers were present 
whom he feared. No one else saw them 
but he and Esther — except the cat — but 
all could hear them speak just as plainly 
as I could. 

An account of my experience, while 
investigating what is called " Modern 
Spiritualism," would fill a volume. I 
state without fear of contradiction, that 
what might become a grand Psychical 



1 62 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

Philosophy, is in the hands of jugglers 
and charlatans. Not five per cent, of the 
persons known as " public mediums" ever 
saw a ghost or had a message from one. 
Mind-reading, or thought-transference, 
" guess-work " and legerdemain compose 
"their chief stock-in-trade." These 
" features " of their business, aided by 
darkness, cabinets, music and other ad- 
juncts, give them their so-called " favora- 
ble conditions," and in this way they 
have humbugged thousands and made 
hundreds insane. I do not deny that 
persons may have met " mediums" who 
gave them genuine pertinent communica- 
tion from the ghosts of the dead ; but I 
say most positively that no " medium " can 
control the invisible intelligence within 
the atmosphere, and that in nearly all 
cases, where they could not come in con- 
tact with the ghosts, they resorted to 
trickery, and then, when exposed in that, 
all that was genuine that had ever come 
from the unseen world through their vital 
magnetism was looked on with suspicion. 



RETROSPECTIVE. 1 63 

The Greatest [\\ t } ie "mediums" have to 
bear is to have to find out how to get rid 
of their " dupes," who still believe them 
genuine after they have been exposed. 
" Modern Spiritualism " was founded on 
manifestations of some ghosts, which 
occurred in a haunted house in 1848, and 
which were similar in character to those I 
witnessed while investigating the Great 
Amherst Mystery. 

The sacred books of India, the ancient 
writings of the Chinese, the Talmud, the 
Bible and the Koran, translations of all of 
which I have examined, contain accounts 
of the return of the ghosts of the dead ; 
and it is time science made a thorough 
investigation of haunted houses, and let 
all so-called " Spiritual Mediums " die a 
natural death. 

The "spirit-producing" powers of the 
magicians, Robert Heller and Mons. 
Cazeneuve — both now dead, I believe — 
and those of Kellar and Herrmann, not 
one of whom ever possessed, or claimed to 
possess, any " mediumistic " vital magnet- 



164 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

ism, will never be surpassed in their power 
to excite wonder and entertain the public 
by any of the " bogus public mediums " 
now controlling " Modern Spiritualism." 
What am I, do you wonder ? Why, 
until science has demonstrated that 
haunted houses are but a natural form 
of " an electro-magnetic phonograph," 
that gives forth power and sounds that 
have been stored in their interior (which, 
of course, it never will), I shall continue 
to believe in Ghosts. 

For ghosts of the dead, 
Through infinite ages, 
Have wandered and lurked 
In earth's atmosphere; 
Watchful and eager 
For victims to torture, 
To follow and kill, 
Or make tremble with fear. 

Yes, ghosts of the dead, 
Revengeful and evil, 
Still come in hordes 
From the Stygian shore; 
Entering houses 
To torment our maidens; 
Burning and wrecking 
Our homes evermore. 



FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS. 1 65 



FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS. 



[From the "Amherst Gazette" fune 27, 1879.] 

ESTHER COX. 

The manifestations in presence of this young 
lady have recently been of a very lively character. 
She is now staying at Mr. Teed's. 

The case has lately been watched closely by Mr. 
Walter Hubbell, who has seen similar phenomena, 
and has determined to spend some time in its 
investigation. He has frequently caught bogus 
" mediums " in their deceptions, and considers that 
Miss Cox could not easily deceive him if she were 
inclined to do so. He informs us that he has heard 
knocks, at times very loud, and that these have 
denoted the dates on coins in his pocket, time of 
day, etc.; that on different days the heavy cover of 
a stone-china sugar-bowl disappeared from the 
breakfast table, and afterwards dropped from the 
air in the room ; that when he asked for matches 
for lighting his pipe they dropped in front of him 






1 66 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY. 

on several occasions ; that chairs, tables, and a 
lounge were upset, and various articles were thrown 
from ten to thirty feet. 



[From the " Western Chronicle^ Kentville, Nova Scotia, 
Wednesday, Jttly 16, 1S79.] 

THE AMHERST MYSTERY. 

The Amherst Gazette publishes about two 
columns of a journal kept by Walter Hubbell, 
while boarding at Daniel Teed's to investigate the 
"Amherst Mystery." The narrative records the 
observations made by Mr. Hubbell, and contains 
some very remarkable, not to say tough statements. 
These, for instance: "June 25, I have been pull- 
ing pins out of Esther, all day, which the invisible 
power has been sticking into all parts of her 
person. I have seen the pins come out of the air 
and stick into the girl ; they have also been put 
into her ears. I pulled about thirty pins out of 
her to-day. It is becoming more wonderful and 
unaccountable. A chair was taken out of my bed- 
room and thrown down stairs after Esther Cox, no 
person being in the upper part of the house at the 
time. As we were entering the parlor this after- 
noon, both saw a chair fall over and jump up asrain ; 
and were both five feet from it at the time.'' v 

The vagaries of household furniture, in Ester's 
presence, are certainly astonishing, according to 
Mr. Hubbell's description, and must render the 



FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS. 1 67 

Teed domicile anything but a quiet boarding- 
house, while the habit that carving knives, paper- 
weights, and other articles appear to have of flying 
at boarders, must be more exciting than agreeable. 
It is certainly surprising, with all the boasted scien- 
tific discoveries of the nineteenth century, that no 
solution of these mysterious manifestations can be 
found, and that nothing can be done to prevent 
their recurrence. 



\From " The Banner of Light" Boston, Saturday, July 12, 
1879.] 

We have cited on several occasions the case of 
Miss Esther Cox, the singular phenomena occur- 
ring in whose presence have created so much 
interest and popular excitement in Nova Scotia. 
The subject has arisen once more (after a tempo- 
rary subsidence) on the wave of discussion, and we 
have before us in the way of proof thereof a copy 
of the Amherst Gazette, for June 27, and a letter 
from Walter Hubbell, dated the 25th of last month, 
both of which set the matter forth in plain 
language. The Gazette says : 

"The manifestations in the presence of this 
young lady (Esther Cox) have recently been of a 
very lively character. She is now staying at Mr. 
Teed's. 

The case has lately be n watched closely by 
Mr. Walter Hubbell, who has determined to spend 
some time in its investigation " 



1 68 THE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY 



NOTE. 



While this work was in press I heard 
from one of Dr. Carritte's descendants 
that he was dead. From another source 
I heard that Jennie Cox was married, and 
had left Amherst years ago, and that 
Esther has never been tormented by the 
ghosts since her marriage ; but where she 
and Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Teed are living 
at the present time, I have not been able 
to ascertain. I have erood reason to be- 
lieve they are not in Amherst. 

W. H. 

New York, March 7, 1888. 



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